What is that classical piano piece?
December 14, 2021 6:55 PM

Slow, melancholy, minor key, 4/4 time, solo piano. Sounds similar to a Chopin nocturne or Scriabin's Etude in C# minor. Begins with 2 measures of chords, then a slow run of eighth notes up the keyboard, followed by some call and response between right hand and left hand. Then the slow run up and call and response sections repeat several times, with variations, until now we're in a major key. I loved dancing to this in ballet class as a kid.

For bonus points, are there tools for figuring out classical music earworms? I usually don't even know the composer, just "I heard it a lot in ballet class."
posted by danceswithlight to Media & Arts (2 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
I always get the start of that Scriabin mixed in my mind with this Chopin Nocturne 21 in C Minor so maybe that's it?
posted by oxisos at 7:34 PM on December 14, 2021


Got it! Tchaikovsky - June: Barcarolle (The Seasons, op. 37a, no. 6)

I found it via Musipedia's melody contour search, which is pretty cool - no note names, just enter a sequence of up/down intervals.

The Dictionary of Musical Themes is cool too, which was linked in a now-deleted comment, but it didn't have this Tchaikovsky theme.

None of the several hum-to-search options on Google, Musipedia, etc. seemed to be working.
posted by danceswithlight at 8:05 PM on December 14, 2021


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