Impromptu in F minor, D. 935 No. 1

The piece

This impromptu in F minor opens the D. 935 set, written in December 1827 and published in 1839. It lasts almost eleven minutes here. After an opening in chords and runs, a later passage brings a high melody while the right hand plays sixteenths low down; the score marks it sinistra: the left hand crosses over to sing.

That hand crossing is the moment to prepare: the right hand keeps its sixteenths even in the middle of the keyboard, while the left alternates between the bass and the melody note above it. Practise the left hand’s movement alone first, slowly, aiming for the key before playing it. Elsewhere the sixteenth-note runs need even fingers and a supple wrist; the piece then retraces its steps, much like a sonata form, before ending in F minor.