A work by the prolific French composer Gaston Salvayre, capturing a lighthearted walk through the forest. It is distinguished by its rolling broken-chord accompaniment and graceful, cascading melodic figures.
At Henle 3 this is a late-beginner piece — comfortable hands-together playing is assumed, and musical shaping starts to matter. The main demands: continuous sixteenth-note figuration that must ripple, not chatter; careful pedaling — clarity depends on the foot as much as the fingers; and sweeping arpeggio figures that must stay smooth across positions.
Ensure the sixteenth-note passages remain even and well-integrated into the harmonic rhythm.
Comparable difficulty and character — good candidates for what to learn next.
A level or two down with the same spirit — ideal if this piece is still out of reach.
Where this piece's skills lead: slightly harder works making similar technical demands.
Dans les bois is rated Henle level 3 of 9 — late beginner repertoire, roughly ABRSM grades 4–5. In the RCM system it corresponds to about level 4.
You should be comfortable at Henle level 3 — meaning you can already play level 2–3 pieces cleanly. Learning it one level early is possible as a stretch piece, but more than that usually leads to months of frustration.
A typical performance of Dans les bois lasts about 3 minutes.
Dans les bois is available as free public-domain sheet music on IMSLP — the score is linked directly from this page.
Pieces at a comparable difficulty and character include Colombelle by Gaston Salvayre, Butterfly by Aleksandr Ilyinsky, 'Neath Swinging Roses by Albert William Ketèlbey — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.