Interactive piano piece
Learn Sinfonia No. 2 in C minor, BWV 788
Three voices moving in flowing sixteenth notes through a searching C-minor harmonic journey. Use the interactive player to isolate the chromatically descending inner voice — at 60% tempo you can hear each half-step shift that gives this C-minor Sinfonia its distinctive harmonic tension.
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Press Play for the full piece, or choose Opening and switch to Wait for note for guided right-hand practice.
About the piece
C minor's chromatic descent — the Sinfonia's darkest voice.
Sinfonia No. 2 in C minor is one of the most harmonically adventurous pieces in the set. Its inner voice carries a chromatic descent — a stepwise half-step motion downward — that creates layers of dissonance against the outer voices before resolving. This was a beloved Baroque compositional device, the passus duriusculus, used to express grief or intensity, and Bach deploys it here with characteristically compact efficiency.
The contrast with Sinfonia No. 1 in C major is immediate and instructive: same two-flat key center, radically different emotional world. Students who play both pieces back to back receive one of the most concentrated lessons in how mode shapes affect that the keyboard repertoire can offer.
Practice path
Master the chromatic inner voice before adding outer parts.
Isolate the middle voice and play it alone from start to finish, singing along. The half-step descents should feel like a coherent melodic line, not a sequence of awkward finger positions. Once the inner voice is memorized and flows naturally, add one outer voice at a time.
Score basis: Generated MusicXML from Mutopia MIDI. Public domain composition; Public Domain (CC0) — Mutopia; MusicXML generated for Pianodemy. Attribution: Mutopia Project (https://www.mutopiaproject.org/cgibin/piece-info.cgi?id=140).
MIDI source: Mutopia Project (https://www.mutopiaproject.org/cgibin/piece-info.cgi?id=140). Public Domain (CC0) — Mutopia.
Questions
Before you practice.
Short answers for learners and for searchers deciding whether this is the right version to start with.
01How long is Bach's Sinfonia No. 2 in C minor?
32 bars in common time, making it one of the longer sinfonias. The consistent sixteenth-note texture means there is no easy resting point, which builds stamina as well as independence.
02What makes three-voice counterpoint harder than two-voice?
With three voices, the right hand often carries two voices simultaneously (soprano and alto) while the left plays the bass. Keeping the middle voice audible and independent — without letting it collapse into the top or bottom — requires sustained concentration that two-voice writing does not demand.
How to use this V1
Listen for every dissonance — do not smooth them away.
The dissonant moments — where the chromatic inner voice clashes with the outer voices — are the expressive point of the piece. At 65% tempo, let each dissonance ring for its full value before the resolution arrives. Students often unconsciously rush through dissonance; the loop tool helps you practice sitting inside it.