PlayPiano
The short answer
A teaching piece with a history before its familiar title. Sinfonia No. 15 in B minor, BWV 801 is a piece by Johann Sebastian Bach from the Baroque era. PlayPiano puts it at Level 7, an estimate.
- sinfonia
- Baroque
- Key of B minor
- playful
Also known as Sinfonia 15, BWV 801.
History
Sinfonia No. 15 in B minor, BWV 801 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 pause prepares closure
Notice the pause before the final closing passage.
How to practise it
Recurring grouped short notes; bass uses held and active patterns.
- Organise the recurring short-note groups around a stable pulse before adding the faster subdivision.
- Rehearse the bass timing independently instead of treating it as a duplicate of the first line.
How hard is it
Repeated-note sixteenth figures contrast with rapid thirty-second-note broken patterns and dotted sustained notes. The bass takes over these figures, so controlled transfers and rhythmic grouping matter as much as speed.
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
