Gnossienne No. 2 · piano sheet music & MIDI file
Gnossienne No. 2 as a piano MIDI: three minutes "with astonishment" to hear in the preview, free file and sheet music PDF to take away.
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.
"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.
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: notes fall toward the keyboard, each hand gets its color, and Wait mode is there if you're starting out.
Try Pianovera for freeDownload the Gnossienne No. 2 MIDI and sheet music
Two files are waiting for you: the Gnossienne No. 2 piano MIDI file (3 KB, opens in Pianovera or any MIDI player) and the Gnossienne No. 2 piano sheet music PDF (177 KB, printable). Both come from the same engraving: what you read on the score is exactly what you hear in the preview.
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.