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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.
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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A useful leap with guided practice.
This Fugue in C projects a clear contrapuntal drive: the subject moves in strict imitation and allows little free ornamentation, requiring crisp articulation and precise management of entries to preserve voice-leading clarity. You will need to work especially on Harmonic analysis (4.4/5), to anticipate modulatory progressions and choose fingerings and shaping that highlight cadential confirmations, and on Polyphony in three or more voices (4.4/5), which demands independent control of lines — the physical gestures of separating registers and balancing dynamics between soprano, alto and bass. It belongs to the Baroque period and typifies Pachelbel's keyboard fugues, focused on contrapuntal clarity rather than showy virtuosity.