Pièces mélodiques Op. 149 n°18

About this work

The Andante cantabile, No. 18 of Diabelli’s Op. 149, is a piano duet in D minor with four beats to the bar. The Primo sings in the upper register with the line doubled at the octave; its entry is marked dolce. In the Secondo, slurred quavers run through the right hand while the bass alternates notes and rests. A steady accompaniment allows the phrase to move flexibly.

Accidentals in the Secondo change the colour without interrupting the quaver movement. Short slurs call for a gentle renewal of the gesture rather than a consistently heavy line. In the Primo, long notes and brief replies should remain audible above the accompaniment. Hairpins, sf accents and a forte passage carry the phrase forward before it returns to a softer dynamic.

Play the Secondo alone first, observing the bass rests, then add the Primo’s melody with little pedal. Connect the line with the fingers wherever possible. Locate both alternative repeat endings and the final held chord: the players should prepare the pianissimo and the final fermata together, without allowing the last quavers to accelerate.

What the document containsDocument: The PDF has 2 pages, with separate Secondo and Primo parts. It retains fingering, dynamics and repeats. The MIDI lets you hear both parts together.This LilyPond engraving by Alberto Simões comes from the Mutopia Project. It is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 licence, requiring attribution and sharing on the same terms. Every PDF page includes a link to LesPartitions.info.