Schubert: Serenade - Easy Piano Arrangement

Franz Schubert: Serenade ("Ständchen"), D. 957 No. 4

PDF Sheet music, piano solo
Simple Solutions piano arrangement by Henrik Kilhamn

Approximate Grade: 4-
Scale 1 - 8: Beginner - Advanced

Key: D minor, same as original

Schubert composed a collection of 14 songs in 1828 that were published together as Schwanengesang (Swan song) a short time after his death. As the most known in the set, No. 4 Ständchen simply means Serenade, of the poet calling out to his love. The song is emblematic for much of Schubert’s mastery: the emphatic simplicity, the seamless turns between major and minor, and the mysterious air are all in here. It was also given a bigger life of fame when Liszt included it in his series of advanced Lieder piano transcriptions. There Liszt adds on layers of piano textures to transform it, whereas this arrangement sticks with only the poignant melody for RH and a simple imitation of the accompaniment part in LH. It’s not as expressive as Schubert’s original piano part but instead makes for a simple rendition of the material for only two intermediate hands.

This arrangement is included in Simple Solutions Volume 5 - A Burning Desire (Intermediate ~ Grade 3-5)

ABOUT SIMPLE SOLUTIONS

The Simple Solutions series came from the idea that even not-professionally trained pianists should be able to enjoy the feeling of playing great music from the piano repertoire with their own hands. This is possible with some clever rearranging of the musical material: reducing the range of independent voices and jumps while preserving core ideas of melody and rhythm. In this easier setting, you will instead have enough time on your hands (literally!) to bring the music to life and care about those aspect that often otherwise come second: phrasing, articulation, dynamics, and balance. This will help you develop your over-all musicality, which will be of great value in all other pieces as well.

In the end, if you feel ready for a challenge and want to go forward with proper piano studies that requires years of practice – you can always move on to more advanced arrangements or original piano compositions. They will always be there. In the meantime, these arrangements will bring you close to the same enjoyment as the full versions, because all musical ideas are carefully conserved.

They are just a little bit easier.