Invention No.4 in D minor BWV 775
Invention Piano solo 1 min
In brief

This D minor Invention has a sharp, insistent opening line that alternates between rhythmic answers and more singing passages, creating the feel of a tense dialogue between two voices. The main technical challenges lie in Polyphonie à deux voix (5.0/5): you must articulate each contrapuntal line clearly so the motifs converse without blurring, and in Indépendance des mains (4.6/5), which requires maintaining distinct phrasing and dynamics between right and left hands — gestures of finger separation and independent legato control are essential here. The piece is part of Bach's pedagogical keyboard output, written as a two-voice counterpoint exercise within his set of inventions.

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MusicCoach difficulty
33/100
Elementary
Likely range : 30–37/100
Confidence : 80% · high confidence
BeginnerIntermediateAdvancedVirtuoso
Exam grade
On the syllabus: Grade 4 ABRSM

Official level, taken from the exam syllabus.

Other syllabi : Trinity_London Grade 3 · AMEB Grade 4 · RCM Grade 4

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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Difficulty sources
Henle Verlag
3
28/100 normalised · 5 obs.
Combined exam syllabi
Grade 4
35/100 normalised · 3 obs.
MusicCoach curation
Grade 4
36/100 normalised
ABRSM (syllabus)
Grade 4
36/100 normalised
Combined exam syllabi
Grade 3
28/100 normalised
Relative difficulty
18%
Among Johann Sebastian Bach
23%
Era
6%
Genre
Estimated skills
Technique
Two-voice polyphony
4
Technique
Hand independence
4
Style
Baroque style
3
Theory
Knowledge of forms
2
Fingering
Complex fingering
2
Ornaments
Baroque ornaments
2
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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