Fugue in D minor
Classical Fugue Piano solo 3 min
In brief

This D minor fugue has a taut, driven character: the subject unfolds and interweaves directly, requiring crisp articulation and carefully graded dynamics to make each line audible. You will be dealing notably with Analyse harmonique (4.4/5) — you must quickly identify the modulations and shape chordal releases and resolutions — and Polyphonie à trois voix ou plus (4.4/5), which demands finger independence to balance the lines, distribute voices between the hands, and execute clean subject entries. From the Classical period and part of C.P.E. Bach’s keyboard output, the piece shows his application of contrapuntal technique to solo keyboard textures rather than sheer virtuosity. I do not provide a recording recommendation here, as I am not sufficiently certain about a single definitive interpretation.

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Is this the right work?
MusicCoach difficulty
64/100
Intermediate
Likely range : 52–76/100
Confidence : 36% · 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
94%
Among Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
92%
Era Classical
48%
Genre
Estimated skills
Theory
Harmonic analysis
1
Technique
Three-or-more-voice polyphony
1
Theory
Knowledge of forms
1
Style
Classical style
1
Interpretation
Dynamics
1
Interpretation
Phrasing
1
Technique
Two-voice polyphony
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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