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The short answer
A teaching piece with a history before its familiar title. Sinfonia No. 5 in E-flat major, BWV 791 is a piece by Johann Sebastian Bach from the Baroque era. PlayPiano puts it at Level 6, an estimate.
- sinfonia
- Baroque
- Key of E-flat major
- dancing
Also known as Sinfonia 5, BWV 791.
History
Sinfonia No. 5 in E-flat major, BWV 791 belongs to Bach's three-part Sinfonias. The earlier teaching notebook for Wilhelm Friedemann was begun in Köthen on 22 January 1720. Bach made a separate fair copy of the collection in 1723, revising its presentation and order. These dates mark stages in the collection's history, not the exact day this individual piece was composed. The collection reached print in 1801, long after Bach's lifetime.
Sources
What to listen for
A repeating foundation
Follow imitative upper lines above the recurring bass pattern.
How to practise it
Place the dotted upper entry accurately above the lower broken pattern.
- Count the opening silence aloud before playing its three-note entry.
- Practise the third melody quietly and add the high entry at its exact place.
How hard is it
Dotted-eighth and sixteenth-note figures in the upper and middle lines sit above broken bass figures. Rhythmic precision, ornament realization and maintaining held voices create the main demands.
About this piece
- Licence
- Public Domain
- Source
- mutopiaproject.org
More by Johann Sebastian Bach
- Prelude in C major, BWV 846Level 4, estimatedOpen to everyone
- Two-Part Invention No. 1 in C major, BWV 772Level 5, estimatedWith Maestro
- Italian Concerto in F major, BWV 971: III. PrestoLevel 9, estimatedWith Maestro
