Variations on Vivat Bacchus from Mozart's Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, op. 34, no. 3
Romantic Variations Piano solo ~9 min
In brief

These Variations on the theme “Vivat Bacchus” project a bright, playful character, alternating virtuosic passages with more song-like moments that require the theme to remain clearly projected through ornamentation. You will need to rely on the skill "Connaissance des formes" (3.8/5) to quickly recognize reprises and formal variants so you can shape and balance each variation, and on "Pédale de sustain" (3.1/5) to keep chordal clarity in legato passages — concretely, this means precise, time-aligned pedal changes to avoid blurring during rapid figurations. Placed in the Romantic piano repertoire, it follows the tradition of brilliant variations that showcased salon virtuosity and adaptations of operatic themes. I do not list a reference performance because I am not certain of a single recording universally acknowledged for this specific work.

MusicCoach difficulty
67/100
Advanced
Likely range : 55–79/100
Confidence : 35% · to confirm
BeginnerIntermediateAdvancedVirtuoso
Exam grade
About grade 7

Estimated from our difficulty score, not taken from an exam syllabus. Checked against 333 works on the ABRSM syllabus: the exact grade is right 7 times out of 10, and within one grade 99 times out of 100.

Difficulty estimate by MusicCoach on a scale of 1 to 100.

Where this work sits
050100

Most works cluster between 45 and 65: a small score gap often marks a real step. The highlighted bar shows this work among those for the same instrument.

The MusicCoach difficulty measures a work's overall demands (technique, reading, stamina) on a shared 0-100 scale, consolidated from editorial and pedagogical reference points (Henle, exam syllabuses, curation) and our own analyses. It measures neither musical value nor the practice time YOU will need: two musicians of the same level can experience the same work very differently depending on their strengths (hands used to octaves, quick sight-reading…). The confidence reflects how many reference points sit behind the score and how well they agree — a lightly documented score is flagged “to validate”. For a truly personal bearing, the diagnostic and your space compare each work to YOUR estimated level, which the score alone cannot do.

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Relative difficulty
84%
Among Johann Nepomuk Hummel
71%
Era Romantic
67%
Genre
Estimated skills
Theory
Harmonic analysis
1
Theory
Knowledge of forms
1
Pedaling
Sustain pedal
1
Style
Romantic style
1
Rhythm
Tempo rubato
1
Interpretation
Dynamics
1
Interpretation
Phrasing
1
What to play next?

Each suggestion combines difficulty gap, risk, confidence and skill overlap. The first two cards in each column are the most useful pedagogically.

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