Real Sight Reader
Piano sound
Browser piano

Play your MIDI keyboard through this device’s audio output. Plug headphones into this device and turn down your piano’s own speakers.

← All pieces

Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, BWV 1050

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) · sheet music

  • Key D major
  • Time 2/2
  • Levels 8
  • Passages 1

Your turn · both hands

 

 

Loading passage…

Preparing your passage…

Johann Sebastian Bach, German baroque (1685–1750). The reading release has 1 passage from this piece at level 8; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 13–16 for both hands together.

Practice the hard bars →

The hardest stretch is bars 13–16 at level 8.

Your practice path

Learn it the way teachers do: each hand on its own, then together, then the hard bars. Each step is a real graded passage of Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, BWV 1050.

  1. Hands together · bars 13–16 level 8

How to play Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, BWV 1050

  1. Tempo:Start at a calm Allegro in which the sixteenth notes are clean. Bach's energy comes from steady motion, so a stable tempo matters more than raw speed.
  2. Right hand:The right hand carries the solo line, so practice its running notes in short groups. Keep the fingers close to the keys and use a consistent fingering for repeated figures.
  3. Left hand:The left hand moves nearly as much as the right, with leaps and independent lines. Learn it alone until it feels secure.
  4. Hands together:Treat the two hands as two instruments in conversation. Play one hand louder, then switch, so you hear how the lines answer each other.
  5. Fingering:Decide on fingering before building speed. The wide leaps in this passage are much easier if you choose where your hand repositions in advance.
  6. Dynamics:Keep the touch crisp and even, with small shaping rather than big swells. A steady, clear sound suits the harpsichord character of the solo.
  7. Practice:Break the passage into one- or two-beat cells and loop each one. Once each cell is smooth, connect them in pairs.

Common mistakes

  • Rushing through the fast runs and losing evenness. Fix: Slow to a speed where each note speaks, and increase the metronome one notch at a time.
  • Playing the leaps by guessing where the hand lands. Fix: Look ahead to the target note and practice the jump alone.
  • Letting one hand dominate so the second line disappears. Fix: Alternate which hand leads and listen for both voices.

Structure: concerto with solo group (concertino) and orchestra

Three movements: fast, slow, fast. The solo trio of harpsichord, flute and violin plays with and against a string orchestra, and the harpsichord leads throughout, most of all in its long first-movement solo.

I · Allegro (D major)
A bright, flowing movement for the whole ensemble that features a long harpsichord solo. The solo is full of running notes, with hands that move independently.
II · Affettuoso (B minor)
A gentle, expressive movement played by the three soloists alone, in the minor. Expect a sensitive, intimate line over a light bass.
III · Allegro (D major)
A lively finale based on a gigue, in a da capo shape that returns to the start.

About Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, BWV 1050

Bach presented his Brandenburg set to Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt, with a dedication dated 24 March 1721. The fifth concerto seems likely to have been the last of the six written, and an earlier version survives as BWV 1050a. Its harpsichord part is presumed to be for a new instrument by Michael Mietke that Bach paid for in Berlin in 1719.

What sets it apart is the harpsichord, which takes the leading role among the three soloists, alongside the flute and violin. Its long solo in the first movement more than tripled in length between the early and final versions and borrows techniques from violin writing. It has been called the first keyboard concerto ever written.

The slow movement is built on a theme by the French organist Louis Marchand. Bach's 1717 visit to Dresden is mainly remembered for a planned contest with Marchand that never took place. The Brandenburg Concertos were mostly forgotten after Bach's death until Siegfried Dehn found them in Princess Anna Amalia's library in 1849.

  • The harpsichord solo in the first movement more than tripled in length between the early version and the one Bach sent to Brandenburg.
  • The slow movement uses a theme by Louis Marchand, whom Bach was supposed to compete against in Dresden; Marchand reportedly left before the contest could happen.
  • The Leipzig Gewandhaus performed the concerto in 1853, the year after Dehn's edition appeared.
  • Wendy Carlos included a Moog synthesizer version of the concerto on Switched-On Bach II in 1973.

Why the first passage is level 8

That passage is level 8 rather than 7 because it leaps a major third plus an octave.

The single passage on this page is a hard, two-handed excerpt with fast notes in both hands. Take it slowly and keep the fingering consistent each time you repeat a figure.

Questions about Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, BWV 1050

How hard is Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, BWV 1050 to play?
Its passages grade from level 8 on Real Sight Reader's ten-level reading scale, so the full piece is intermediate to advanced reading. The hardest stretch is bars 13–16 at level 8.
Is there an easy part of Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, BWV 1050 for beginners?
Its easiest passage is level 8, so it suits a reader past the beginner stage. Start with bars 13–16 for both hands together, the level-8 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 8 because it leaps a major third plus an octave.
What key and time signature is Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, BWV 1050 in?
Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, BWV 1050 is in D major, 2 sharps. The engraving on this page is in 2/2 time.
Who composed Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, BWV 1050?
Johann Sebastian Bach, German baroque (1685–1750). Bach presented his Brandenburg set to Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt, with a dedication dated 24 March 1721.
Can I practice Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, BWV 1050 online for free?
Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the one graded passage from Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, BWV 1050 in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
What makes Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 special?
It features the harpsichord as the leading soloist alongside the flute and violin, and scholars have seen in it the origins of the solo keyboard concerto.
Who was Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 written for?
Bach dedicated the six Brandenburg Concertos to Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt, in 1721. The harpsichord part of the fifth is presumed to be for a new Mietke harpsichord bought for the Köthen court in 1719.
Is Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in the public domain?
Yes. Bach died in 1750, so the original is in the public domain. Arrangements and editions can have their own rights; the engraving on this page comes from a public-domain source.

Every passage, easiest first

The reading release grades one passage of this piece. Open any of them in the reader:

Level 8
bars 13–16 both hands

More pieces to sight-read

Score: public-domain engraving from the corpus (pdmx), graded by the piano-reading-v2-20261023-identity-audit reading release.

Keep training on your phone Practice with your own pieces — free on the App Store