Every Chopin piece by difficulty
Published levels beside ours, from the Waltz in A minor at 3 to the Barcarolle at 8.
Chopin runs from 3 to 8 on the published scale of 1 to 9, and the table below gives the level of every piece we list. The easiest is the Waltz in A minor, B. 150, a 3, and the hardest are the Ballade No. 1, the Revolutionary Étude, the Polonaise Op. 53 and the Barcarolle, all 8. Most of what an amateur wants to play, the nocturnes, the waltzes and the short preludes, sits between 4 and 6.
The levels in the third column are G. Henle Verlag’s, taken from the contents lists of its Chopin volumes, on a scale of 1 to 9: 1 to 3 easy, 4 to 6 medium, 7 to 9 difficult (the scale, explained). The fourth column is our own level, 1 to 8, the number on our piece pages, filled in where we have rated the piece.
Nocturnes
Six nocturnes share the lowest level, 5: Op. 15 No. 3, Op. 32 No. 1, Op. 37 No. 1, Op. 72 No. 1 and the two posthumous ones, in C♯ minor and C minor. Op. 9 No. 3 and Op. 48 No. 1 are 7. The other thirteen, Op. 9 No. 2 among them, are 6. The six at 5 are the ones to learn first.
Waltzes
The Waltz in A minor, B. 150, is a 3, the lowest level in the table. Op. 69 No. 2 is a 4, Op. 69 No. 1 a 5, and both Op. 64 waltzes, the Minute and the C♯ minor, are 6.
Preludes
No. 4 in E minor, No. 7 in A major and No. 20 in C minor are all 4, the lowest level in Op. 28. The Raindrop, No. 15, is a 5. The rest of the set climbs to 9 with No. 24.
Impromptus
All four impromptus are 7, the Fantaisie-Impromptu included. We rate it 7 of 8 as well.
Ballades
Ballade No. 1 in G minor is an 8, as are Nos. 2 and 3. No. 4 is a 9, the top of the scale.
Mazurkas
Op. 68 No. 2 in A minor is a 4; Op. 7 No. 1 and Op. 17 No. 4 are 5. No mazurka is rated below 4 and none above 7.
Études
Op. 10 No. 3 and Op. 10 No. 5 are 7, and the Revolutionary, Op. 10 No. 12, is an 8. No étude is rated below 6, and only four sit there: Op. 10 No. 9, Op. 25 No. 1 and two of the Trois nouvelles études.
Polonaises
The Military, Op. 40 No. 1, is a 5 and the Heroic, Op. 53, an 8. The only polonaises at 4 are two Chopin wrote as a child, in G minor and B♭ major.
Scherzos
Scherzo No. 2 in B♭ minor is a 7. The other three are 8.
Other works
The Berceuse is a 7 and the Barcarolle an 8.
The left hand is the level
In Chopin the level is mostly a left-hand number. Op. 32 No. 1 and Op. 48 No. 2 have right hands we rate the same, 4 of 8, and Op. 48 No. 2 sits a level higher on both scales because its left hand plays wide arpeggios without a break. Op. 9 No. 3 is a 7 because of the fast figures under its loud middle section.
Our editions rate each hand on its own (all 21 nocturnes, both hands) and replace Chopin’s left hand with one plain root-position chord per harmony, chord symbols above the staff and roman numerals below. You learn the right hand, exactly as Chopin wrote it, over the progression first, then add his own left-hand patterns over chords your hands already know. That makes a level-6 nocturne playable, melody over chords, in the first session, and it is how I learned Op. 9 No. 2.
Op. 32 No. 1
Op. 32 No. 1 in B major is a Henle 5 with the plainest left hand in the set, simple broken chords in a small span. The easy piece in each genre is in The easiest Chopin piece in every genre.