Jesus Christus unser Heiland, BWV.689
Baroque Piano solo ~3 min
In brief

This piece has a contemplative yet determined character, alternating singing lines with accompanying chords that require clear articulation to bring the chorale melody forward within the texture. You will specifically face Ornaments baroque (3.1/5) — here you must execute small ornaments cleanly and detached (mordents, brief appoggiaturas) with precise fingering and controlled release — and Bass clef reading (Lecture clé de fa, 3.1/5), which demands left-hand independence to read and project basses often placed low on the staff. The work belongs to Bach's chorale-based output, typical of the Baroque period and his practice of reworking liturgical melodies into contrapuntal keyboard pieces. I do not provide a recording recommendation because I prefer not to give a reference unless I am completely certain of its attribution.

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Is this the right work?
MusicCoach difficulty
45/100
Intermediate
Likely range : 33–57/100
Confidence : 35% · to confirm
BeginnerIntermediateAdvancedVirtuoso
Exam grade
About grade 5

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
33%
Among Johann Sebastian Bach
22%
Era Baroque
Genre
Estimated skills
Reading
Bass clef reading
1
Ornaments
Baroque ornaments
1
Style
Baroque style
1
Tone
Touch control
1
Interpretation
Phrasing
1
Technique
Three-or-more-voice polyphony
1
What to play next?

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