Sonata in F major, K.418, L.26
Baroque Sonata Piano solo ~3 min
In brief

This F major sonata feels bright and playful, alternating short dance-like phrases with sudden breaks of momentum that require maintaining an overall line despite compact, repetitive motifs. Technically, Knowledge of forms (3.6/5) will help you shape the two-section structure and the repeats — you must anticipate returns to manage dynamic shaping and cadence timing so the binary form remains clear — and Baroque style (3.1/5) demands precise articulation and clean ornaments, treated as small rhythmic accents rather than long legato gestures. The piece belongs to Scarlatti's body of keyboard sonatas, typical of his Baroque output of short instrumental works that emphasize rhythmic relief and single-movement or bipartite virtuosity.

MusicCoach difficulty
50/100
Intermediate
Likely range : 38–62/100
Confidence : 38% · to confirm
BeginnerIntermediateAdvancedVirtuoso
Exam grade
About grade 5 to 6

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
34%
Among Domenico Scarlatti
38%
Era Baroque
26%
Genre
Estimated skills
Theory
Harmonic analysis
1
Theory
Knowledge of forms
1
Reading
Bass clef reading
1
Ornaments
Baroque ornaments
1
Style
Baroque style
1
Technique
Hand independence
1
Sight-reading
Sight-reading
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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