Départ des paysans is a character piece by Henri Cieutat that depicts a rustic scene through a rhythmic, march-like structure. It relies on simple harmonic textures and clear articulation to evoke the imagery of a peasant departure.
At Henle 3 this is a late-beginner piece — comfortable hands-together playing is assumed, and musical shaping starts to matter. The main demands: precise articulation — the difference between crisp and blurred is the piece; Alberti-bass accompaniment kept quiet and even under the melody; and fine finger independence within the hand.
Achieving consistent rhythmic clarity in the left-hand alberti-bass figures is the main requirement.
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.
Départ des paysans (Op.200) is rated Henle level 3 of 9 — late beginner repertoire, roughly ABRSM grades 4–5. In the RCM system it corresponds to about level 3.
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 Départ des paysans (Op.200) lasts about 2 minutes.
Départ des paysans (Op.200) 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 Die Parade der Zinnsoldaten by Léon Jessel, Bolero by César Cui, Ein Kinderscherz by Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.