The First Lessons, Op. 117 No. 1

Cornelius Gurlitt (1,820–1,901)

Key: C major
Style: Studies
Level: Foundation
Roughly: RCM Prep A–B · ABRSM Initial · Trinity Initial
Lesson: F.10 Home and away chords
Musicianship: F.10 Home and away
Focus: Half notes over whole-note bass; short two-bar slurs

What its lesson teaches

F.10 Home and away chords

Study Gurlitt Op. 117 No. 1 in C. Hear its changing bass and slurred melody, then play tonic and dominant triads in the keyboard task. In Passing the Tune, an original warm-up, follow the melody as it changes hands while the other hand sustains.

Ideas: Triads
Tonic and dominant
Tonality and the tonic
Theory cards: Three notes that sound like home
Home and away chords in C
Little and often
Technique: C major root-position triad, hands separately

Edition and licence

Score: Musalea, from a public-domain edition · public domain

The First Lessons, Op.117 No.1

Edition: G. Schirmer, New York, 1895: The First Lessons / Die Anfangs-Stunden, Op. 117 (identified from IMSLP's listing)

Published: 1895

Source: https://imslp.org/wiki/Special:ImagefromIndex/400775 (IMSLP #400775, G. Schirmer, New York, 1895)

Public-domain source edition(s).

Checked bar by bar against IMSLP #400775 (G. Schirmer, New York, 1895), 2026-10-28: every bar compared; 0 bars corrected.

Adapted by Musalea: converted to MusicXML and prepared for interactive practice.

The other lesson pieces of Foundation

Home Light, written for the Method
Vorschule im Klavierspiel, Op. 101 No. 10 — Kinderlied (Child’s Song), Ferdinand Beyer
Study in C major, Op. 190 No. 1, Louis Köhler
Aller Anfang ist schwer (Every Beginning Is Difficult), Handstücke I No. 1, Daniel Gottlob Türk
The First Lessons, Op. 117 No. 3, Cornelius Gurlitt
The First Lessons, Op. 117 No. 4, Cornelius Gurlitt
Raindrops and Ribbons, written for the Method
Study in C major, Op. 190 No. 2, Louis Köhler
Vorschule im Klavierspiel, Op. 101 No. 11 — Der Kuckuck (The Cuckoo), Ferdinand Beyer
A Second Voice, written for the Method
Three Steps, written for the Method
Long Shadows, written for the Method

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