Can you identify this music?

October 28, 2015 12:47 PM

It's a page of sheet music, found without context.

Thanks!

posted by jeffamaphone to Media & Arts (13 answers total)

It's for piano.
It's fairly difficult to play, like maybe Grade 7 level.
Written in F# major (in layman's terms, that means lots of playing on the black keys).
That's all I got for you.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 1:53 PM on October 28, 2015

Looks like Chopin, but I won't be able to tell till I get in front of a keyboard
posted by falsedmitri at 2:20 PM on October 28, 2015

This could also be written for harp. F# major isn't hard at all for harpists nyah nyah
posted by janey47 at 2:23 PM on October 28, 2015 [2 favorites]

@janey 47: did not know that, thanks.
posted by falsedmitri at 2:27 PM on October 28, 2015

lots of playing on the black keys

except for E#!
posted by thelonius at 2:41 PM on October 28, 2015 [1 favorite]

Best answer: This is the second (or third) page of The Banjo Op. 15 by Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869). Sound here (the passage in question around 0.18; it's repeated a buncha times, so difficult to say exactly). Full score (various different editions to choose from, some with written-out repeats instead of double bars) here.
posted by Namlit at 3:03 PM on October 28, 2015 [51 favorites]

Full score (various different editions to choose from, some with written-out repeats instead of double bars) here.

They sure don't make title pages like they used to.
posted by theodolite at 3:11 PM on October 28, 2015 [4 favorites]

Namlit, wow. How did you know?!
posted by pseudostrabismus at 3:16 PM on October 28, 2015 [3 favorites]

Cool history: Gottschalk came from a mixed and blended Jewish / Creole / African American family, and this piece, composed in 1953 for piano, was his attempt to copy the sounds of African-American banjo playing (which was itself heavily influenced by West African rhythmic motifs and the West African musical instruments from which the banjo originated).
posted by pseudostrabismus at 3:22 PM on October 28, 2015 [2 favorites]

...music sticks to my brain, it's just the way it is...

I did have to dig for a while, not remembering exactly which of Gottschalk's pieces it was. There's another Banjo tune if I'm not mistaken, and a lot of other wacky rhythmically 'different' music by him.
posted by Namlit at 4:09 PM on October 28, 2015 [5 favorites]

I would mark you as best answer so hard Namlit.
posted by Justinian at 6:41 PM on October 28, 2015 [2 favorites]

Crikey! Hamlet's answer has to be a AskMe high-tide mark.
posted by bonobothegreat at 7:33 PM on October 28, 2015 [2 favorites]

hmm do i now autocorrect into "Hamlet"...
posted by Namlit at 2:53 AM on October 29, 2015 [4 favorites]