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.
← Swipe the image to read the score →Beginning of the score, engraved by the Mutopia Project.View the whole score (PDF) →
"With astonishment", "don't leave", "with great kindness": those are the only markings Satie left on this score without bar lines. The second Gnossienne is the strangest of the set, and its MIDI sounds like a melody improvised over a sway that judges nothing.
Like its big sister it stays accessible: the left hand alternates two positions, the right unrolls arabesques decorated with triplets. Rhythmic freedom is the real subject, and that's a gift: few pieces teach you this well how to breathe outside the metronome without losing your inner pulse.
Gnossienne No. 2: the first notes
Right hand, in letter names (C4 = middle C): D5 E5 G4 C5 D5 C5 D5 C5 D5 A#4 C5 G4 A4 A#4 A4 A#4 A4 A#4 G4 B4 E4 E4 C4 E4… The rest scrolls in the preview above, with the fingering, and the sheet music PDF has the whole piece.
Play Gnossienne No. 2 on the virtual piano
Here are the Gnossienne No. 2 virtual piano notes, in computer keyboard letters: the first 8 bars of the melody. One key per note, read left to right; dark keys are the sharps, and a thin line marks each bar.
Letters for a QWERTY keyboardYour keyboard: 41 notes
OPIOIOIO7IY7Y7Y7
TUEQE
OPIOIOIO7IY7Y7Y7
6RWW
▶ 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
A free melody over an unshakeable left hand
The ornamental triplets, light as parentheses
Playing without bar lines: phrasing by ear
The requested astonishment: colors, not effects
Playing Gnossienne No. 2 on piano with Pianovera
The missing bar lines don't bother Pianovera: notes fall, you follow. Wait mode is ideal for owning the rubato: you decide the time between notes, so the piece is yours immediately.
Open Gnossienne No. 2 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.
Download the Gnossienne No. 2 MIDI and sheet music
The work itself is in the public domain. This MIDI engraving comes from the Mutopia Project, typeset by Frédéric Duperray, under the CC-BY-SA 4.0 license (free reuse with attribution, commercial included).
About this piece
Is Gnossienne No. 2 hard to play on piano?
We rate it beginner: 372 notes over 3:19, spanning D2 to G#5. The first thing to work on: a free melody over an unshakeable left hand.
Where can I get the sheet music for Gnossienne No. 2?
Right on this page: the "View the sheet music" button opens the PDF (177 KB), engraved by the Mutopia Project from the same source as the MIDI file, CC-BY-SA 4.0 license. View it, print it, keep it.
Is the Gnossienne No. 2 MIDI file really free?
Yes. Erik Satie died more than 70 years ago, so the work (1890) is public domain. This MIDI engraving is under the CC-BY-SA 4.0 license: free to use, commercially included, with credit to Frédéric Duperray.
