Which key does Chopin’s Raindrop Prelude play most?
The A-flat just below middle C, struck 437 times: more than twice as often as any other key. Next is the same note an octave higher, with 190. The score calls it A-flat in the D-flat major opening and close, and G-sharp in the C-sharp minor middle section, where 269 of the 437 strikes fall: the same key, named for the key the music is in.
Source: the Mutopia Project’s public-domain edition of Chopin’s Prelude Op. 28 No. 15, read from its MIDI file.
What stands out
- The three most-struck keys are one note in three octaves: A-flat, 437, 190 and 73 times.
- The prelude strikes 1,518 notes in all, and the A-flat below middle C is 29% of them.
- It uses 46 of the piano’s 88 keys, from E1 up to B♭5 / A♯5.
The numbers
| Rank | Key | Times struck |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A♭3 / G♯3 | 437 |
| 2 | A♭4 / G♯4 | 190 |
| 3 | A♭2 / G♯2 | 73 |
| 4 | D♭4 / C♯4 | 72 |
| 5 | E♭4 / D♯4 | 62 |
| 6 | B3 | 56 |
| 7 | B4 | 54 |
| 8 | E♭5 / D♯5 | 41 |
| 9 | D♭3 / C♯3 | 40 |
| 10 | D♭5 / C♯5 | 38 |
| … | ||
| 37 | A♭5 / G♯5 | 3 |
| 37 | F2 | 3 |
| 37 | A3 | 3 |
| 40 | G5 | 2 |
| 40 | G4 | 2 |
| 40 | G3 | 2 |
| 40 | B♭1 / A♯1 | 2 |
| 44 | B♭5 / A♯5 | 1 |
| 44 | A2 | 1 |
| 44 | C2 | 1 |
The top 10 and bottom 10 of 46. Black keys are named both ways, flat first, as the prelude is in D-flat major.
Download the chart as an image
Data: the Mutopia Project’s public-domain edition of Chopin’s Prelude in D-flat major, Op. 28 No. 15, read from its MIDI file: every note struck, by key, both hands together. Keys the prelude never plays are left plain. Middle C is C4. Played as puzzles in Daily Shade.