Green notes: right hand, blue notes: left hand. Preview played right in your browser with the app's real piano (lightweight version). Inside Pianovera: full multi-layer sound, fingering display and Wait mode.
Debussy was 26, years before La Mer and the Préludes, when he wrote the two Arabesques that already announce everything: the First unspools garlands of triplets flowing from hand to hand as if the keyboard itself were rippling. No drama anywhere in this MIDI, just light and curves.
It gently introduces the challenge that returns all over Debussy: two against three. The duple melody has to float above the triplets without being pulled into them. It's more approachable than Clair de Lune, and frankly the best place we know to tame that polyrhythm before going further.
The First Arabesque: the first notes
Right hand, in letter names (C4 = middle C): C#4 C#5 E5 F#5 G#5 D#5 B4 B3 A3 A4 C#5 D#5 E5 B4 G#4 G#3 C#5 F#4 A4 F#5 C#5 F#4 A4 C#5… The rest scrolls in the preview above, with the fingering, and the sheet music PDF has the whole piece.
Play the First Arabesque on the virtual piano
Here are the virtual piano notes for the First Arabesque, in computer keyboard letters: the start of the theme, after the opening arpeggios. One key per note, read left to right; dark keys are the sharps, and a thin line marks each bar. The melody sounds an octave lower than written, so it fits on the keyboard.
Letters for a QWERTY keyboardYour keyboard: 23 notes
L5LL5Y
Y65E5LEMLHMG
HCHDS
▶ Play on the virtual pianoThe piano opens with this piece loaded: the key to play lights up and waits for you.
What you'll be working on
Two against three in comfort, without counting out loud
Triplets flowing between the hands with no seam
A pearled sound, light pedal, nothing pressed
Long phrase arcs (think in lines, not bars)
Playing the First Arabesque on piano with Pianovera
Slow Pianovera down to 60% and watch the grid: the triplets and the duplets draw two visible patterns crossing each other. Seeing the polyrhythm before playing it is exactly what paper scores never give you.
Open Arabesque No. 1 in Pianovera: the notes fall toward an 88-key virtual piano keyboard, each hand gets its color, and Wait mode is there if you're starting out. On a PC, it's falling notes piano software for Windows, with video export up to 4K.
Free, with no time limit and no ads: 30 pieces (10 in full, 20 in a simplified version), the first 10 lessons and 10 minutes of 3D hands (then 15 seconds per piece). Premium opens all 651 pieces.
The work itself is in the public domain, and this MIDI engraving was placed in the public domain by its typesetter on the Mutopia Project. Use it freely, videos included.
About this piece
Is the First Arabesque hard to play on piano?
We rate it intermediate: 1448 notes over 2:56, spanning E1 to G#6. The first thing to work on: two against three in comfort, without counting out loud.
Where can I get the sheet music for the First Arabesque?
Right on this page: the "View the sheet music" button opens the PDF (131 KB), engraved by the Mutopia Project from the same source as the MIDI file, Public domain license. View it, print it, keep it.
Is the First Arabesque MIDI file really free?
Yes. Claude Debussy died more than 70 years ago, so the work (1891) is public domain. This MIDI engraving is public domain too: download it and use it freely, videos included.
