Minuet (after J.S. Bach)
Muzio Clementi (1801)
Description
A piece after J. S. Bach. In the London of 1801 Bach's keyboard music was not yet widely known among amateurs; it circulated chiefly among professionals as teaching material. Placing it in a beginner's method says something about what Clementi took a classic to be.
In E major and triple meter: 197 notes, under forty seconds. In a key of four sharps, it keeps the manner of Bach's own teaching pieces — a right-hand melody and a left-hand bass proceeding in two voices, with no chordal thickening, just two lines side by side.
A beginner piece. Because it is written in two voices, both hands have to be played as though each carried a melody. Let the left hand run softly as accompaniment and half the frame of the piece disappears. Treat both hands with the same care: the attitude a Bach piece requires can be learned right here.
A piano method Clementi published in 1801, comprising 50 lessons that arrange famous Baroque and Classical works for solo piano.
Browse all songs in Introduction to the Art of Playing on the Piano Forte Op.42 →Sheet Music
Sheet music provided by Mutopia Project
About the Composer
Muzio Clementi (1752-1832)
Muzio Clementi was born in Rome and moved to England while still young, building a career in London as a pianist, composer, and instrument manufacturer. Often called the "father of the pianoforte," he wrote the study collection Gradus ad Parnassum and numerous sonatinas that remain staples of piano pedagogy. This site includes pieces from his Op. 42 tutor, built on "Ah! vous dirai-je, Maman" and melodies by Haydn and Mozart, along with movements from the Sonatina, Op. 36, No. 1.
View all works by Clementi →