Piano Sonata D major Hob. XVI:14
Sonata Piano solo
In brief

This sonata has a bright, lively galant character that calls for flexible rhythmic relief and crisp articulation rather than heavy Romantic expression. You will mainly face demands in Knowledge of forms (3.6/5) and Harmonic analysis (3.6/5): you must clearly identify exposition, development and recapitulation to shape moments of tension and release, and follow the modulations to anticipate cadences and adjust attacks and connections between right and left hands. It belongs to Haydn's classical-era piano sonata output and sits within his important contributions to the sonata genre rather than as a late experimental work. I do not provide a reference recording here because I am not 100% certain of a single established interpretation for this specific sonata.

MusicCoach difficulty
42/100
Elementary
Likely range : 33–51/100
Confidence : 55% · fair confidence
BeginnerIntermediateAdvancedVirtuoso
Exam grade
About grade 4 to 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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Difficulty sources
Henle Verlag
4
38/100 normalised · 5 obs.
Relative difficulty
43%
Among Franz Joseph Haydn
38%
Era
9%
Genre
Estimated skills
Theory
Harmonic analysis
1
Theory
Knowledge of forms
1
Style
Classical style
1
Tone
Hand balance
1
Technique
Legato
2
Interpretation
Dynamics
2
Interpretation
Phrasing
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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