Well-tempered Clavier, Book 2, BWV.870-893
Baroque Piano solo ~75 min
In brief

This collection alternates preludes and fugues where the mood shifts between crystalline contrapuntal clarity and moments of lyrical sweep, requiring precise attack to let independent lines emerge. Technical: Polyphony for three voices or more (4.5/5) — you must project each voice with specific fingerings and hand redistribution to preserve line independence and balance; Harmonic analysis (4.5/5) — anticipating progressions and modulations informs choices of slight rubato, articulation and pedaling to clarify suspensions and resolutions. A major Baroque work in the composer's output, the second book systematically explores the tonal space and deepens his contrapuntal practice.

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Sheet music

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MusicCoach difficulty
57/100
Intermediate
Likely range : 43–72/100
Confidence : 58% · 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.

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Difficulty sources
Henle Verlag
5
50/100 normalised · 8 obs.
Relative difficulty
66%
Among Johann Sebastian Bach
58%
Era Baroque
Genre
Estimated skills
Theory
Harmonic analysis
1
Theory
Knowledge of forms
1
Technique
Three-or-more-voice polyphony
1
Reading
Bass clef reading
1
Ornaments
Baroque ornaments
1
Style
Baroque style
1
Sight-reading
Sight-reading
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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