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English Suite No. 3 in G minor: Prelude, BWV 808

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) · sheet music

  • Key G minor
  • Time 3/8
  • Levels 7–8
  • Passages 5

Your turn · both hands

 

 

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Johann Sebastian Bach, German baroque (1685–1750). The reading release has 5 passages from this piece at levels 7–8; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 101–104 for both hands together.

Practice the hard bars →

The hardest stretch is bars 105–108 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 English Suite No. 3 in G minor: Prelude, BWV 808.

  1. Hands together · bars 101–104 level 7
  2. The hardest bars · bars 105–108 level 8

How to play English Suite No. 3 in G minor: Prelude, BWV 808

  1. Tempo:The nineteenth-century Peters edition marks it Allegro. Choose a lively pace at which the busiest sixteenth-note episodes stay clear, and feel the bars in pairs rather than counting every eighth.
  2. Rhythm:Hewitt suggests bringing out a swinging rhythm that follows from the earliest copy's double-bar notation. Feel two 3/8 bars as one big beat, stressing every second bar lightly.
  3. Right hand:In these passages the right hand alternates figures in eighth notes, a note followed by a repeated upper note, with sixteenth-note runs that circle around a pivot note. Learn each shape slowly, then link them.
  4. Left hand:The left hand often runs in sixteenths that circle a held pitch while the right hand moves in eighths, then switches to plain eighth-note chord tones when the right hand takes the sixteenths. Practice it alone until both roles feel natural.
  5. Hands together:When the hands exchange patterns, one hand has to accept the baton without a bump. Practice handing off the pattern at half speed, listening for evenness.
  6. Dynamics:On a piano, imitate the harpsichord's contrast by shaping the tutti with fuller tone and the solo episodes with a lighter touch. Let the opening swell build gradually by voice, not by sudden volume.
  7. Reading:Two flats set the key, but chromatic notes appear constantly in the sequences. Scan ahead each time the pattern climbs or descends to spot sharps and naturals.
  8. Practice:Learn the movement in its sections: play each tutti, then each solo episode separately. Then connect the bridge passage to the return of the opening.

Common mistakes

  • Playing the solo episodes at the same volume as the tutti passages. Fix: Mark each section as loud or soft in your score and build the contrast on purpose.
  • Stressing every 3/8 bar the same way and losing the swinging two-bar feel. Fix: Count in two-bar groups and let the first bar of each pair carry a little extra weight.
  • Rushing the sixteenth sequences as the pattern repeats. Fix: Practice each sequence with a metronome and keep the same pulse through every repeat.
  • Missing chromatic notes that alter familiar patterns. Fix: Spell the pattern in letters before you play, and slow down only at the changed note.

Structure: ritornello form (tutti and solo episodes)

The movement follows an Italian concerto plan: an orchestra-like ritornello returns between lighter solo episodes, and the first and third episodes share material, giving the whole a symmetrical shape. Before the final return, a bridge brings the opening three notes in low down and lets them rise until the main idea is back.

Ritornello · Opening tutti (G minor)
A simple motif spreads across the keyboard and thickens as voices are added, like an orchestra's entrance; running sixteenths sit over eighth-note chords.
Solo 1 · First solo episode
Two solo lines weave around each other in a lighter texture, like a pair of violins; one hand runs in sixteenths while the other answers in eighths.
Middle · Alternating ritornellos and episodes
Tutti and solo textures trade places, and this alternation gives the movement its clear structure. Look for sequences, with sixteenth-note patterns climbing or descending by step.
Return · Bridge and final ritornello
The three opening notes reappear low in the bass and rise step by step until the main theme returns. A closing ritornello rounds off the movement.

About English Suite No. 3 in G minor: Prelude, BWV 808

The six English Suites, BWV 806-811, probably date from the 1710s, before the French Suites and Partitas. Why they are called English is unclear: Bach's first biographer Forkel said they were written for an unnamed English nobleman, they are stylistically close to suites by Charles Dieupart, a French composer living in London, and the copy owned by Bach's son Johann Christian is headed 'fait pour les anglois'.

Each suite after the first opens with a large prelude modeled on the fast movement of a concerto grosso. Angela Hewitt describes the Third Suite's prelude as built on a Vivaldi concerto grosso, with full ritornello passages that imitate the orchestra alternating with lighter, more transparent solo episodes.

Bach lets the keyboard sound like an orchestra. The movement opens with a small motif that spreads across the whole range and swells by adding voices, then gives way to a section in which two solo lines weave together like violins.

  • Hewitt notes that one of the earliest copies writes the prelude in double measures, so the stress falls on every second bar and the music swings as if in 6/8.
  • IMSLP counts 209 bars in the prelude, by far the longest movement in the suite.
  • In IMSLP's movement list, the suite's second gavotte is headed ou la Musette.
  • The suite ends with a gigue that Hewitt describes as a difficult three-part fugue.

Why the first passage is level 7

That passage is level 7 rather than 6 because it runs fast figuration.

The passages here come from the later part of a long movement. Expect two flats, fast sixteenth-note patterns, frequent chromatic notes, and a left hand that sometimes shares in the pattern work.

Questions about English Suite No. 3 in G minor: Prelude, BWV 808

How hard is English Suite No. 3 in G minor: Prelude, BWV 808 to play?
Its passages grade from level 7 to 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 105–108 at level 8.
Is there an easy part of English Suite No. 3 in G minor: Prelude, BWV 808 for beginners?
Its easiest passage is level 7, so it suits a reader past the beginner stage. Start with bars 101–104 for both hands together, the level-7 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 7 because it runs fast figuration.
What key and time signature is English Suite No. 3 in G minor: Prelude, BWV 808 in?
English Suite No. 3 in G minor: Prelude, BWV 808 is in G minor, 2 flats. The engraving on this page is in 3/8 time.
Who composed English Suite No. 3 in G minor: Prelude, BWV 808?
Johann Sebastian Bach, German baroque (1685–1750). The six English Suites, BWV 806-811, probably date from the 1710s, before the French Suites and Partitas.
Can I practice English Suite No. 3 in G minor: Prelude, BWV 808 online for free?
Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the 5 graded passages from English Suite No. 3 in G minor: Prelude, BWV 808 in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
Why are Bach's English Suites called English?
No one knows for certain. Forkel said they were written for an English nobleman, they resemble suites by Charles Dieupart, who lived in London, and Johann Christian Bach's copy is marked 'fait pour les anglois'.
How long is the Prelude of English Suite No. 3?
IMSLP counts 209 bars in 3/8, which makes it far longer than any other movement in the suite.
What is a ritornello?
A returning refrain, here played with the full keyboard texture, which alternates with lighter solo episodes in the manner of a concerto.

Every passage, easiest first

The reading release grades 5 distinct passages of this piece. Open any of them in the reader:

Level 7
bars 101–104 both hands · bars 173–176 both hands · bars 177–180 both hands
Level 8
bars 105–108 both hands · bars 133–136 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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