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Minuet in F Major, BWV Anh. 113

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) · sheet music

  • Key F major
  • Time 3/4
  • Levels 3–8
  • Passages 12

Your turn · both hands

 

 

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Johann Sebastian Bach, German baroque (1685–1750). The reading release has 12 passages from this piece at levels 3–8; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 5–8 for the right hand alone.

Practice the hard bars →

The hardest stretch is bars 1–8 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 Minuet in F Major, BWV Anh. 113.

  1. Right hand alone · bars 5–8 level 3
  2. Left hand alone · bars 29–32 level 3
  3. Hands together · bars 5–8 level 5
  4. The hardest bars · bars 1–8 level 8

How to play Minuet in F Major, BWV Anh. 113

  1. Tempo:A minuet is a dance, so use an easy walking pace with a gentle lift on the first beat of each bar. If you can sway to three beats while playing, the tempo is right.
  2. Right hand:The right hand sings in a smooth line with a few small embellishing turns. Keep the fingers close to the keys and connect the notes without pressing.
  3. Left hand:The left hand moves in quarter notes, mostly by step, with occasional eighth-note figures; treat it as a second voice and listen to it as you play.
  4. Hands together:Join the hands one phrase at a time. Listen for places where the left hand moves while the right hand holds a longer note.
  5. Fingering:The triplet turns in the opening phrases sit under one hand position; choose a fingering for them, write it in, and reuse it every time.
  6. Practice:Play the piece twice at a slow pace, once legato and once with light detached notes. Choose the touch that lets the dance feel clearest.
  7. Dynamics:On a harpsichord the volume barely changes, so shape phrases through timing, touch and small changes in note length; on piano keep the dynamic range modest.

Common mistakes

  • Emphasizing all three beats equally and losing the dance feel. Fix: Count one-two-three, and give beat one a slight emphasis while keeping beats two and three lighter.
  • Missing the B-flat in the key of F major. Fix: Name the one flat in the key signature before starting and circle each B in the first phrase.
  • Letting the left hand overpower the tune. Fix: Practice the left hand alone in a soft voice, then keep it quieter than the right when they play together.

Structure: binary (two repeated sections)

The minuet has two sections, each repeated. The first starts in F major, spins out a broken-chord figure over a stepping bass, and closes in C major. The longer second section passes through D minor before working its way back to F major.

A · First section (F major)
A tune that turns around C and F with triplet figures and a chromatic E-flat, then a passage of running eighth notes that bounce off a repeated C before cadencing in C major.
B · Second section (D minor, returning to F major)
The music moves to D minor with C-sharps and repeated-note figures, then climbs back through sequences to close in F major.

About Minuet in F Major, BWV Anh. 113

The 1725 Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach is a bound book of keyboard pieces and songs whose title page carries the year 1725. Most of the entries are in Anna Magdalena's own hand, with others written by Johann Sebastian and by their sons, and it mixes Bach's music with pieces by other composers, some of them unknown.

The Minuet in F major is No. 3 in the notebook, but its attribution to Bach is considered doubtful, so the BWV catalogue lists it in the Anhang, the appendix of doubtful and spurious works. The famous minuets in G major and G minor from the same notebook, BWV Anh. 114 and 115, are usually credited to Christian Petzold.

None of that diminishes its usefulness. It is a short, elegant dance in three beats with triplet turns, a chromatic touch and running broken-chord lines, and pieces from the notebook have long served as first steps into baroque style.

  • The minuet is the third entry in the 1725 notebook, which also holds the well-known G major minuet now credited to Christian Petzold.
  • Some entries in the notebook were written in by Bach's sons Carl Philipp Emanuel and Johann Christian.
  • The abbreviation Anh. in a BWV number stands for Anhang, the appendix that lists works whose attribution to Bach is doubtful or spurious.

Why the first passage is level 3

That passage is level 3 rather than 2 because it leaps a fifth.

F major, one flat, in 3/4. The right hand mixes triplet turns, stepwise lines and a running broken-chord figure, with an occasional chromatic accidental, over a mostly stepwise left hand.

Questions about Minuet in F Major, BWV Anh. 113

How hard is Minuet in F Major, BWV Anh. 113 to play?
Its passages grade from level 3 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 1–8 at level 8.
Is there an easy part of Minuet in F Major, BWV Anh. 113 for beginners?
Yes. Start with bars 5–8 for the right hand alone, the level-3 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 3 because it leaps a fifth.
What key and time signature is Minuet in F Major, BWV Anh. 113 in?
Minuet in F Major, BWV Anh. 113 is in F major, 1 flat. The engraving on this page is in 3/4 time.
Who composed Minuet in F Major, BWV Anh. 113?
Johann Sebastian Bach, German baroque (1685–1750). The 1725 Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach is a bound book of keyboard pieces and songs whose title page carries the year 1725.
Can I practice Minuet in F Major, BWV Anh. 113 online for free?
Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the 12 graded passages from Minuet in F Major, BWV Anh. 113 in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
Did J.S. Bach compose the Minuet in F major, BWV Anh. 113?
It appears in the 1725 notebook, but the BWV catalogue lists it among doubtful works in the Anhang. Its composer is not known for certain.
What is the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach?
It is a handwritten collection of keyboard pieces and songs that Bach gave to his second wife in 1725, mixing his music with works by other composers.
Is the Minuet in F major in the public domain?
Yes. The music dates from the early eighteenth century, and free editions, including a Mutopia typeset edition taken from the Bach-Gesellschaft volume, are available online.

Every passage, easiest first

The reading release grades 12 distinct passages of this piece. Open any of them in the reader:

Level 3
bars 5–8 right hand · bars 13–16 right hand · bars 29–32 left hand
Level 5
bars 5–8 both hands · bars 9–16 both hands · bars 9–12 both hands · bars 13–16 both hands · bars 17–20 both hands · bars 25–28 both hands · bars 25–32 both hands · bars 29–32 both hands
Level 8
bars 1–8 both hands

More pieces to sight-read

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

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