How hard is English Suite No. 2 in A minor: Prelude, BWV 807 to play?

Its passages grade from level 7 to level 9 on Real Sight Reader's ten-level reading scale, so the full piece is intermediate to advanced reading. The hardest stretch is bars 1–12 at level 9.

Is there an easy part of English Suite No. 2 in A minor: Prelude, BWV 807 for beginners?

Its easiest passage is level 7, so it suits a reader past the beginner stage. Start with bars 1–4 for both hands together, the level-7 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 7 because a hand covers more than one position and it reaches 3 ledger lines.

What key and time signature is English Suite No. 2 in A minor: Prelude, BWV 807 in?

English Suite No. 2 in A minor: Prelude, BWV 807 is in A minor, no sharps or flats. The engraving on this page is in 3/4 time.

Can I practice English Suite No. 2 in A minor: Prelude, BWV 807 online for free?

Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the 15 graded passages from English Suite No. 2 in A minor: Prelude, BWV 807 in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.

Why are they called the English Suites?

Nobody knows for sure. One explanation links the set to the French composer Charles Dieupart, whose harpsichord suites Bach drew on; another early account says they were written for an English nobleman.

Was this Prelude written for piano?

No. The English Suites were written for keyboard, meaning harpsichord or clavichord, and today they are also played on the piano.

Which movements follow the Prelude?

An Allemande, Courante, Sarabande (with an ornamented version), two Bourrees and a Gigue.

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English Suite No. 2 in A minor: Prelude, BWV 807

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) · sheet music

Key A minor
Time 3/4
Levels 7–9
Passages 15

Your turn · both hands

Preparing your passage…

Johann Sebastian Bach, German baroque (1685–1750). The reading release has 15 passages from this piece at levels 7–9; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 1–4 for both hands together.

Practice the hard bars →

The hardest stretch is bars 1–12 at level 9.

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 English Suite No. 2 in A minor: Prelude, BWV 807.

Hands together · bars 1–4 level 7
The hardest bars · bars 1–12 level 9

How to play English Suite No. 2 in A minor: Prelude, BWV 807

Tempo:Choose a tempo where you can count three firm beats and still play the sixteenth notes evenly; the Prelude is long, so a sustainable pace matters more than speed.
Right hand:The right hand carries sixteenth-note runs and the opening theme; play it with an even, clear touch, like a violin line, and avoid pushing the beat.
Left hand:The left hand imitates the right hand's theme a bar later and then supplies a steady bass of eighth notes; give the imitation the same shape as the original.
Hands together:Practice the imitation by playing the right-hand theme alone, then the left-hand answer alone, then combining, so both entries sound equal.
Fingering:Decide fingerings for each sixteenth-note run before speeding up, and use the same fingers every time; changes midway are a common cause of mistakes.
Dynamics:Use terraced dynamics, as on a harpsichord: play the refrain a bit louder and the solo episodes lighter, changing at the entries.
Practice:Practice in four-bar blocks, hands separate and then together, and work backward from the end of each block.
Reading:Mark the accidentals in each run, since the music passes through the sharped notes of A minor's related keys; naming the notes aloud helps.

Common mistakes

Playing the sixteenth-note runs unevenly, with a bump on the beat. Fix: Practice the runs with a metronome at a slow tempo, with equal weight on every note.
Letting the left-hand imitation sound weaker than the right-hand theme. Fix: Play both entries one after the other, matching the touch.
Using the piano pedal and blurring the lines. Fix: Play without pedal and use finger legato, so each voice stays clear.
Forgetting the accidentals in the harder middle-section runs. Fix: Mark the accidentals in pencil and name the notes aloud.

Structure: concerto-style prelude (refrain and episodes)

The Prelude treats the solo keyboard like an Italian concerto: a short, pithy refrain that sounds like the full orchestra alternates with lighter, nimble episodes that sound like a soloist. Commentators also hear the shape of a da capo aria in it, with the opening music returning at the end. One player has to make the "orchestra" and the "soloist" sound different.

Refrain · Opening refrain (A minor): The theme starts in the right hand and the left hand imitates it a bar later; this tutti-like material keeps coming back.
Episodes · Solo episodes: Running sixteenth notes and sequences move through new keys, with more accidentals and larger position shifts in both hands.
Return · Return of the opening (A minor): The opening music comes back to round off the movement in the home key.

About English Suite No. 2 in A minor: Prelude, BWV 807

The six English Suites, BWV 806-811, date from the second decade of the 18th century, probably Bach's Weimar years; sources give ranges from 1710 or 1713 to 1720. Each opens with a prelude, something earlier German suites in the French manner, such as Froberger's, usually lacked, and then continues with dances. The A minor suite, No. 2, follows its Prelude with an Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, two Bourrees and a Gigue.

The preludes of five of the six suites, all except No. 1, are modeled on the fast movement of a concerto grosso, a style Bach knew well from arranging Vivaldi's concertos for keyboard. This one is extensive, and it recalls an Italian concerto in a light, accessible way, with orchestra-like passages alternating with solo episodes, all played on one keyboard.

Its mood is cheerful for A minor, and much of it is in two voices that imitate one another, with the left hand taking up the right hand's figures. This page offers 15 excerpts from level 7 to 9.

The name "English" has never been firmly explained; it is often linked to Charles Dieupart, whose harpsichord suites Bach drew on, and a copy owned by Johann Christian Bach is labeled as made for the English.
The Gigue of this suite is the only one in the English Suites that is not a fugue.
Bach wrote out a separately ornamented version of this suite's Sarabande.
The English Suite preludes are written in strict meter, unlike the unmeasured preludes of the French harpsichord tradition.

Why the first passage is level 7

That passage is level 7 rather than 6 because a hand covers more than one position, it reaches 3 ledger lines, it runs fast figuration.

Fifteen excerpts at levels 7 and 9, all hands together, with running sixteenths and imitation between the hands; start with the level 7 excerpts at the beginning.

Questions about English Suite No. 2 in A minor: Prelude, BWV 807

How hard is English Suite No. 2 in A minor: Prelude, BWV 807 to play?: Its passages grade from level 7 to level 9 on Real Sight Reader's ten-level reading scale, so the full piece is intermediate to advanced reading. The hardest stretch is bars 1–12 at level 9.
Is there an easy part of English Suite No. 2 in A minor: Prelude, BWV 807 for beginners?: Its easiest passage is level 7, so it suits a reader past the beginner stage. Start with bars 1–4 for both hands together, the level-7 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 7 because a hand covers more than one position and it reaches 3 ledger lines.
What key and time signature is English Suite No. 2 in A minor: Prelude, BWV 807 in?: English Suite No. 2 in A minor: Prelude, BWV 807 is in A minor, no sharps or flats. The engraving on this page is in 3/4 time.
Who composed English Suite No. 2 in A minor: Prelude, BWV 807?: Johann Sebastian Bach, German baroque (1685–1750). The six English Suites, BWV 806-811, date from the second decade of the 18th century, probably Bach's Weimar years; sources give ranges from 1710 or 1713 to 1720.
Can I practice English Suite No. 2 in A minor: Prelude, BWV 807 online for free?: Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the 15 graded passages from English Suite No. 2 in A minor: Prelude, BWV 807 in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
Why are they called the English Suites?: Nobody knows for sure. One explanation links the set to the French composer Charles Dieupart, whose harpsichord suites Bach drew on; another early account says they were written for an English nobleman.
Was this Prelude written for piano?: No. The English Suites were written for keyboard, meaning harpsichord or clavichord, and today they are also played on the piano.
Which movements follow the Prelude?: An Allemande, Courante, Sarabande (with an ornamented version), two Bourrees and a Gigue.

Every passage, easiest first

The reading release grades 15 distinct passages of this piece. Open any of them in the reader:

Level 7: bars 1–4 both hands · bars 5–8 both hands · bars 9–12 both hands · bars 11–14 both hands · bars 13–16 both hands · bars 73–76 both hands · bars 101–104 both hands · bars 113–120 both hands · bars 113–116 both hands · bars 117–120 both hands · bars 121–124 both hands
Level 9: bars 1–12 both hands · bars 1–8 both hands · bars 9–16 both hands · bars 17–20 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.

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