PlayPiano
The short answer
A teaching piece with a history before its familiar title. Three-Part Sinfonia No. 8, BWV 794 is a piece by Johann Sebastian Bach from the Baroque era. PlayPiano puts it at Level 6, an estimate.
- sinfonia
- Baroque
- playful
History
Three-Part Sinfonia No. 8, BWV 794 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
Interludes and returns
Compare connecting passages with the final home-key subject return.
How to practise it
Later upper entrance; moving inner line into sustain.
- Count through the silent opening, then enter without borrowing an accent from another line.
- Practise the transition into the tie without repeating the held C.
How hard is it
Eighth-note and sixteenth-note motives overlap with sustained and tied inner lines. Ornaments, changing accidentals and staff-crossing notation add coordination demands to the three-part texture.
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
