Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu Dir, BWV.686
Baroque Piano solo ~4 min
In brief

The piece has a sober, meditative character: the chorale melody unfolds over a dense harmonic fabric, with sustained tones and entries that require maintaining tone and clear articulation to bring out the melodic line. Technically, Reading bass clef (Lecture clé de fa, 3.1/5) demands left-hand independence and secure reading of low lines, which here means precise attacks and good legato control in the bass register; additionally, Baroque ornaments (Ornements baroque, 3.1/5) require short, exact executions (mordents/trills) and strict rhythmic placement to preserve the contrapuntal flow. It belongs to Bach's Baroque corpus of chorale preludes, part of his liturgical and pedagogical treatments of hymn tunes that showcase his handling of a cantus firmus within inner polyphony. I do not provide a recommended recording because I prefer not to name specific interpretations unless I am certain they correspond to this exact work.

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Is this the right work?
MusicCoach difficulty
45/100
Intermediate
Likely range : 33–57/100
Confidence : 35% · to confirm
BeginnerIntermediateAdvancedVirtuoso
Exam grade
About grade 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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Relative difficulty
33%
Among Johann Sebastian Bach
22%
Era Baroque
Genre
Estimated skills
Reading
Bass clef reading
1
Ornaments
Baroque ornaments
1
Style
Baroque style
1
Technique
Legato
1
Interpretation
Phrasing
1
Technique
Two-voice polyphony
1
What to play next?

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