Piano Sonata C major Wq 51,1
Sonata Piano solo
In brief

This C major sonata feels brisk and cheerful, alternating clear arpeggiated figures with answering melodic phrases that call for crisp articulation rather than showy virtuosity. Technically you will mainly face Phrasing (2.5/5) and Legato (2.5/5): phrasing here means shaping short musical sentences with slight dynamic inflections and emphasis on phrase endings, while legato requires precise finger connections and subtle wrist control to keep lines continuous without blunting the attack. The piece belongs to Soler's body of keyboard sonatas, positioned stylistically between the late Baroque and the emerging Classical idiom and written for solo keyboard. I do not provide a performance reference because I am not certain of a single authoritative recording for this specific work.

MusicCoach difficulty
56/100
Intermediate
Likely range : 44–68/100
Confidence : 55% · fair confidence
BeginnerIntermediateAdvancedVirtuoso
Exam grade
About grade 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.

Does this rating look right to you?

This rating is computed automatically from heterogeneous sources. It gets things wrong, sometimes badly. If you know this work, your answer is worth more than our computation: it tells us which ratings to review.

Add a note (optional)

Your note is not published on the site: it is read in review.

Difficulty sources
Henle Verlag
6
62/100 normalised
Relative difficulty
81%
Among Antonio Soler
65%
Era
42%
Genre
Estimated skills
Technique
Legato
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.

See the whole progression