Cello Suite no. 4 in E flat major, BWV.1010
Baroque Suite Cello solo
In brief

This Suite in E-flat major is both lyrical and incisive: its polyphonic writing requires bringing out several voices as if the instrument were in dialogue with itself, alternating singing lines and lively, articulate figures. You will specifically face challenges with Position du pouce (4.3/5), which requires stabilizing and shifting the thumb to make smooth position changes without losing tone, and with Doubles cordes (violoncelle) (4.3/5), which demand precise bow distribution and strict intonation to make two voices sing together. The piece belongs to the Baroque period and is one of Bach's suites for solo cello, showcasing the polyphonic possibilities of a solo instrument. I do not list a reference recording here out of caution unless an attribution can be given with certainty.

Listen to this work

No verified recording for this work yet. We add more every week.

Sheet music

Public-domain sheet music on IMSLP ↗

Is this the right work?
MusicCoach difficulty
66/100
Advanced
Likely range : 59–73/100
Confidence : 48% · 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.

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
MusicCoach expertise
70
70/100 normalised
Relative difficulty
79%
Among Johann Sebastian Bach
90%
Era Baroque
67%
Genre
Estimated skills
Technique
Thumb position
1
Theory
Knowledge of forms
1
Technique
Double stops (cello)
2
Ornaments
Baroque ornaments
2
Style
Baroque style
2
Reading
Bass clef reading
1
Technique
Position changes (cello)
1
Tone
Touch control
1
Technique
Intonation (cello)
1
Technique
Bow legato (cello)
1
Technique
Fast passages
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