“Gretchaninoff - A Terrible Event” is classified as a Level 3 Piano work worth 1,025 points within the Road to Virtuosity progression system. It is categorized under Composers → Gretchaninoff, Aleksandr and is part of the Romantic collection. The sheet music for “Gretchaninoff - A Terrible Event” provided on this website is available for non-commercial use. This means it may be downloaded, printed, studied, and performed for personal or educational purposes, but it may not be sold, redistributed commercially, or used as part of a paid product without permission.
Gretchaninoff’s A Terrible Event is a compact dramatic scene in a dark, low register. Repeated chord pairs and restless bass figures give the music an uneasy, interrupted pulse.
The opening alternates clipped chords with pauses, then broadens into sustained harmonies above accented bass notes. A brief acceleration leads to a held chord and a slower, single-note phrase in the upper staff. The opening material returns quietly, followed by another expansion and a second slower interlude. A final return of the chord motif ends over a descending bass, with a slowing, suspended close.
Interesting fact: Both staves begin in bass clef; the upper staff changes briefly to treble clef for each Meno mosso interlude before returning to the darker opening register.
Submit Video