Interactive piano piece
Learn Prelude Op. 28 No. 13
A luminous F-sharp major piece often described as the nocturne of the Op. 28 set — 38 bars of gentle right-hand melody over a softly rocking accompaniment. Adjustable tempo, section loops, and a clickable on-screen keyboard help you find the balance between the sustained left-hand chords and the ornamented melody above.
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Press Play for the full piece, or choose Opening and switch to Wait for note for guided right-hand practice.
About the piece
The nocturne hidden inside a prelude.
Prelude No. 13 in F-sharp major occupies the exact midpoint of the 24 Preludes of Op. 28, completed in Majorca in 1839. It is one of the longest and most songlike of the set — closer in character to Chopin's nocturnes than to the compact studies or mood sketches that dominate the cycle. Its F-sharp major key, with its six sharps, sits on the far side of the circle of fifths from C major, and the music reflects that remoteness: serene, warm, and slightly otherworldly.
The piece opens with a gentle left-hand accompaniment of spread chords, above which the right hand sings a long, ornamented melody marked 'sotto voce' — literally 'under the voice,' meaning quiet and intimate. A middle section introduces a more urgent triplet figure before the opening melody returns, now even more elaborately ornamented. Chopin's friend and student Wilhelm von Lenz described No. 13 as 'a conversation between two souls rather than a piece for an audience,' capturing its private, inward quality.
Practice path
Sustain the melody across the long notes.
The right-hand melody contains many long held notes that must sustain their singing quality across the bar — a technical challenge, since the piano's sound decays naturally after the initial attack. The solution is a combination of careful pedaling and a firm but relaxed finger touch on each melodic note, leaning in slightly without clutching. The ornaments decorate without interrupting: practice them slowly and separately before embedding them in the phrase.
The left-hand accompaniment needs to stay full but quiet — the spread chords should resonate without dominating. Pedal changes follow the harmony: typically one per bar in the opening section, held lightly to let the bass note ring. The middle section with its triplet figures needs the same treatment as Prelude No. 3: left-hand evenness first, then the melody on top.
Score basis: Generated MusicXML from Mutopia MIDI. Public domain composition; Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0; MusicXML generated for Pianodemy. Attribution: Mutopia Project (https://www.mutopiaproject.org/ftp/ChopinFF/O28/Chop-28-13/).
MIDI source: Mutopia Project (https://www.mutopiaproject.org/ftp/ChopinFF/O28/Chop-28-13/). Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0.
Questions
Before you practice.
Short answers for learners and for searchers deciding whether this is the right version to start with.
01What is the mood of Chopin Prelude Op. 28 No. 13?
It is serene and luminous, often described as nocturne-like. The F-sharp major key and rocking accompaniment give it a dream-like, floating quality that contrasts with the stormier preludes around it.
02Is Chopin Prelude Op. 28 No. 13 hard to play?
At intermediate level. The notes themselves are not extremely difficult, but projecting the melody above a gentle accompaniment while sustaining the mood across 38 bars takes control and patience.
How to use this V1
The ornaments must arrive without disturbing the melody.
Practice each ornament group in isolation at 50% tempo before placing it in context — the goal is for each decoration to sound inevitable rather than inserted. At 70% hands together, check that the left-hand spread chords remain quieter than the melody throughout; the natural tendency is for the bass to overshadow the right hand at slow tempos. Section-loop the middle triplet section separately and bring it up to the same polish as the opening before connecting the three sections. Pedaling throughout should blur slightly — this is nocturne territory, and a dry sound misses the atmosphere.