Piano songs · Intermediate
Prelude in E minor, Op. 28 No. 4 on piano
Chopin's Prelude in E minor is one of the saddest short pieces ever written: a melody that barely moves, over left-hand chords that slip down one note at a time. Here are the first twelve bars.
this song
Prelude in E minor, Op. 28 No. 4 sheet music
The same notes as the player above, as a piano score: E minor, 2/2. Press Play and the notes light up as they sound. Free to print or save as a PDF.
How to read the rhythms · how to read the notes
About the piece
It's the fourth of Chopin's 24 Preludes, Op. 28, one in every key, completed in 1839 while he was in Majorca. It was played on the organ at his funeral in Paris in 1849. The right hand holds long notes, B and C, while the left hand's chords sink by half steps underneath.
The notes
The letters above are the tune, played by your right hand: B B B C B; C B C B B♭; A B A B A; B A A G♯ A B D C E A F♯; A F♯ A G F♯ C B D♯ F♯ D C B B; C. Longer boxes are longer notes. Press Play and follow along, slow it down with the speed slider, or turn on Wait for me and play each note yourself.
How to learn it
- The left hand is the piece: repeated eighth-note chords, each changing by one note at a time. Play them very evenly and very quietly.
- The melody rocks between B and C for bars on end. Let each long note sing over the chords.
- Listen to the harmony: each new chord changes the colour of the same melody note.
- Slow: it's marked Largo. Don't hurry.
Learning Prelude in E minor, Op. 28 No. 4 on a real piano? Ivory listens to you play and tells you what's off: a note that's missing, a hand that lands late, a rhythm that runs away. Then it shows you how it should go.
Questions people ask
Is Chopin's Prelude in E minor easy?
It's one of the most approachable Chopin pieces: slow, with a simple melody. The difficulty is keeping the left-hand chords even and soft.
Was the Prelude in E minor played at Chopin's funeral?
Yes: it was played on the organ, with the Prelude in B minor, at his funeral in Paris in 1849.
More songs to play
Notes checked against the public-domain Mutopia Project edition (mutopiaproject.org). Piano sound: Salamander Grand Piano by Alexander Holm, CC BY 3.0.