Aria “Warum betrübst du dich” (BWV 516)

Johann Sebastian Bach · Level 3 (Late beginner) · Baroque · Piano

F minor, 4/4, 18 bars (about one minute), complete score.

▶ Play this piece with the interactive score

How to practise it

• Listen first: the site plays it while the score scrolls.
• Wait mode: the score waits for you at every note, at your own pace.
• Tempo challenge: play in time, with a score and a map of the bars you got right.
• Practise each voice separately, then put them together slowly while listening to the counterpoint. Key signature with 4 flats: name them aloud before playing and spot the places where accidentals cancel them. The piece starts with a pickup: count the incomplete bar before coming in. Start hands separately in Wait mode, then put hands together at a slow tempo before speeding up gradually.

More pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach

• Partita 4 (BWV 828) — movement 6
• Aus meines Herzens Grunde (Chorale 1) (BWV 269)
• Two-Part Invention No. 1 in C major (BWV 772)
• Prelude No. 1 in C major, Well-Tempered Clavier I (BWV 846)
• Two-Part Invention No. 13 in A minor (BWV 784)
• Two-Part Invention No. 8 in F major (BWV 779)
• Little Prelude in F major (BWV 928)
• Two-Part Invention No. 4 in D minor (BWV 775)

Source : Mutopia Project · Public Domain