This contemporary Italian etude explores modern minimalist textures through focused rhythmic motifs. It is distinctive for its sparse harmonic language and rigorous structural clarity.
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; fine finger independence within the hand; and chord voicing — bringing out one note inside a handful of others.
The main challenge is maintaining rhythmic precision and detached articulation throughout the repetitive patterns.
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.
Lesser-known works by the same hand, at a comparable level.
Esercizio Op.116c 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 Esercizio Op.116c lasts about 3 minutes.
Esercizio Op.116c 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 Double machine by Fulvio Caldini, Data-Hands by Fulvio Caldini, Banalità leggendarie, Marginalia No.315 by Fulvio Caldini — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.