Fantasia super Jesu, meine Freude, BWV.713
Baroque Fantasia Piano solo ~4 min
In brief

This Fantasia on the chorale “Jesu, meine Freude” has a contemplative, contrapuntal character: the chorale tune stands out as a cantus firmus while surrounding figures shimmer and move, giving a meditative liturgical feel rather than pure bravura. As for technical challenges, Bass-clef reading (Lecture clé de fa 3.1/5) here requires secure left‑hand reading in low tessitura with independent lines and harmonic leaps, and Baroque ornaments (Ornements baroque 3.1/5) call for precise, integrated execution of small divisions and mordents so they sit naturally in the contrapuntal flow without breaking the line. The piece belongs to the Baroque keyboard repertoire and is typical of Bach's explorations of chorale-based fantasia forms, combining imitation and freer writing to probe polyphonic possibilities.

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Is this the right work?
MusicCoach difficulty
62/100
Intermediate
Likely range : 50–74/100
Confidence : 35% · to confirm
BeginnerIntermediateAdvancedVirtuoso
Exam grade
About grade 6 to 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.

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Relative difficulty
78%
Among Johann Sebastian Bach
71%
Era Baroque
56%
Genre
Estimated skills
Reading
Bass clef reading
1
Ornaments
Baroque ornaments
1
Style
Baroque style
1
Technique
Hand independence
1
Interpretation
Dynamics
1
Interpretation
Phrasing
1
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