English Suite no. 3 in G minor, BWV.808
Baroque Suite Piano solo ~14 min
In brief

The piece has a dark, dance-like energy: short, incisive dances with tight counterpoint that create constant tension rather than long singing melodies. You will specifically face Passages rapides (4.4/5), which require digital agility and economical forearm use to articulate lines clearly while keeping finger independence, and Ornements baroque (4.1/5), which demand precise execution of ornaments (mordents, appoggiaturas) and musical timing in their placement. This suite belongs to Bach's Baroque keyboard suite repertoire and sits among his dance-form, polyphonic works for keyboard.

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  • Play — JS Bach: English Suite No. 3 in G Minor BWV 808 - Ivo Pogorelich, 1985 - DG 415 480-1 · davidhertzberg (the player loads on click)

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  • Play — English Suite No. 3 in G Minor, BWV 808: VI. Gavotte II ou la Musette · Johann Sebastian Bach, Maria João Pires (the player loads on click)

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Sheet music

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MusicCoach difficulty
75/100
Advanced
Likely range : 68–82/100
Confidence : 66% · fair confidence
BeginnerIntermediateAdvancedVirtuoso
Exam grade
On the syllabus: Grade 9 RCM

Official level, taken from the exam syllabus.

Other syllabi : Trinity_London Grade 8 · RCM Grade 9

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
ABRSM (syllabus)
Grade 9
77/100 normalised
Combined exam syllabi
Grade 9
77/100 normalised
Combined exam syllabi
Grade 8
76/100 normalised
Relative difficulty
96%
Among Johann Sebastian Bach
91%
Era Baroque
97%
Genre
Estimated skills
Technique
Fast passages
1
Theory
Knowledge of forms
1
Ornaments
Baroque ornaments
1
Style
Baroque style
1
Reading
Bass clef reading
1
Technique
Hand independence
1
Interpretation
Phrasing
1
Technique
Three-or-more-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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