Four full practice sets

Give Bach's dates, nationality and period, and name two of his contemporaries.

Johann Sebastian Bach, 1685–1750, German, late Baroque (the era is dated to his death in 1750). Contemporaries: Handel and Domenico Scarlatti (both born 1685), Telemann, Vivaldi, Rameau, Couperin.

What does "BWV" stand for, who compiled it, and how are its numbers ordered?

Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (Bach Works Catalogue), compiled by Wolfgang Schmieder, published 1950. Numbers are grouped by genre, not chronology — which is why BWV 85 is a church cantata but BWV 875 is a keyboard prelude & fugue.

When and where was Book II of the Well-Tempered Clavier compiled, and how is the collection organised?

In Leipzig, c. 1739–42, while Bach was Thomaskantor (Book I was 1722 at Köthen). Each book has 24 preludes & fugues, one in every major and minor key, rising chromatically — so D minor is No. 6.

What is "Sturm und Drang", and which other Haydn works belong to it?

"Storm and stress" — a dramatic phase (c. 1768–72) with minor keys, sudden loud–soft contrasts, silences and wide leaps. Companions: Symphonies No. 44 "Trauer", No. 45 "Farewell", No. 49 "La Passione", and the Op. 20 "Sun" quartets.

Why was Haydn's C minor sonata written in 1771 but not published until 1780?

The standard answer is contractual — the 1761 Esterházy contract, the 1779 revision — but it doesn't survive scrutiny: Haydn had already authorised a public print of six other sonatas in 1774 (Kurzböck) while this one sat unpublished, and Landon calls the clause "a dead letter anyway". The better answer is compositional: the 1771 layer looks like a draft, the autograph contains no slow movement at all, and A. P. Brown suggests the first movement was simply unfinished.

Who were the dedicatees of the 1780 set, and what did Haydn say about this sonata?

The sisters Katharina and Marianna von Auenbrugger. Haydn called this sonata "the longest and most difficult" of the six, and said their approval mattered most to him.

Why does Chopin's waltz have no opus number, and how is it catalogued?

Chopin never authorised publication (Liszt records he wanted his late unfinished sketches destroyed). It wasn't in Fontana's posthumous set (Opp. 66–73), surfaced separately, and was first printed in 1868. It's catalogued as B. 56, KK IVa/15, WN 29, P. 1/15 — and as CT 222 in the AMEB syllabus itself.

What was happening in Chopin's life around 1830?

Aged 20, he played a farewell concert in Warsaw (11 Oct 1830, the E minor Concerto), left Poland on 2 November, the November Uprising broke out weeks later, Warsaw fell (Sept 1831), and he reached Paris that autumn — never to return.

Where did Bartók collect the tunes for the Romanian Folk Dances, and with what equipment?

In named villages — Mezőszabad, Egres, Bistra, Belényes, Nyágra — recorded on an Edison phonograph using wax cylinders, capturing exactly what villagers played on fiddle and peasant flute. Two corrections worth having: not all of them are in Transylvania (about four of the seven tunes come from the Banat and Crișana, which is exactly why the original title said "from Hungary"), and No. 4 was collected at Bistra, not Bucium — despite being called Buciumeana. Bartók printed that in the score's own footnote.

Put your four works in date order of composition, then date order of publication.

Composed: Bach c. 1739–42 → Haydn 1771 → Chopin c. 1830 → Bartók 1915. Published: Haydn 1780 → Bach c. 1801 → Chopin 1868 → Bartók 1918. Only the Haydn and Bartók were printed in the composer's lifetime.

Describe the fugue subject of BWV 875.

Exactly two bars. First half: twelve rising triplet semiquavers (sextuplets), diatonic and mostly stepwise. Second half: a leap to high D, then a slow chromatic descent in quavers (D–C♯–C♮–B♮–B♭–A) — the passus duriusculus, the Baroque lament figure.

Is the fugue's answer real or tonal? Prove it with the notes.

Real. Subject D–E–F–G; answer A–B♮–C–D. The B natural shows an exact transposition up a perfect fifth with no adjustment — a tonal answer would have tweaked a note to stay in the key.

In what order do the fugue's voices enter, and where does the exposition end?

Alto (bar 1, alone) → soprano (bar 3, real answer) → codetta (bar 5) → bass (bar 6). So middle, top, bottom; the exposition ends at bar 8.

What contrapuntal devices does the fugue use — and which does it avoid?

Uses stretto and inversion, extensively — how many strettos depends how you count. Avoids augmentation, diminution and pedal point. The climax is bar 25, in the tonic: all three voices state the subject's head within one bar, one crotchet apart — alto direct on D, bass inverted on A, soprano direct on D.

Describe the form of the prelude (and its invertible counterpoint).

Continuous binary, 61 bars, in 3/4. The exchange is three bars, not four: bars 2–4 in the right hand return as bars 6–8 in the left (bars 1 and 5 do not correspond). Then bars 26–29 replay 5–8 up a perfect fifth, and bars 30–33 replay 1–4 up a fifth — the two units returning in reverse order. No repeat signs; it ends on D major (Picardy third).

What is the tonal plan of the Haydn first movement's exposition?

C minor → E flat major, the relative major (i → III, the standard minor-mode scheme) — but via a continuous exposition with no clean medial caesura; an augmented sixth around bar 18 feints and evades, and E flat arrives obliquely through an auxiliary cadence.

What key is the Haydn slow movement in, and what relationship is that?

A flat major — the flat submediant (♭VI) of C minor, a warm, remote key Beethoven later loved. It's an aria-like movement over a running, syncopated bass.

Where does the Haydn recapitulation begin — and what is actually disputed in this movement?

The recapitulation begins at bar 69, and that is not disputed. (The "bar 78" you may have read is a mis-reading: in Suurpää's analysis 69–77 and 78–92 are two adjacent functions within the recapitulation, not rival readings — and bar 78 is separately the recapitulation point of the finale.) What genuinely is argued is where the second subject begins: Larsen says bar 26, Brown says bar 32, Hepokoski & Darcy side with Brown, and Beghin has suggested as early as bar 15.

Give the sectional plan of the Chopin waltz with keys.

As it sounds: Introduction – A – B – A – B – A – C – A′ – Coda. As it is written (Henle bars): Intro 1–8, A 9–24, B 25–40, A 41–56, C 57–96, A′ 97–108, Coda 109–131 — 131 written bars, about 203 sounding, because the second B–A pair exists only through a repeat sign. Everything is E minor except C, which is E major (the parallel, not the relative major), with a G♯ minor passage from the ff at bar 73. That repeat is why both "modified rondo" and "ternary" are defensible. ⚠️ The Polish National Edition numbers run 16 ahead of Henle from bar 73 onward — say which edition you are counting from.

Name the tonal centre and mode of each of the six Bartók dances.

1 A (Dorian → Aeolian, Phrygian cadence), 2 D Dorian, 3 B — not Aeolian: raised 4th (E♯) as well as the augmented 2nd, 4 A Phrygian dominant, 5 D Lydian, 6 first tune centred on D, second tune A Dorian. The centres move A – D – B – A – D – D/A.

What instrument did Bach write the "Clavier" for, and how does that shape your pedalling and dynamics?

Any stringed keyboard (harpsichord / clavichord), not the fortepiano. No dynamic control from the key and no sustaining pedal, so expression comes from articulation, timing and arpeggiation — terraced dynamics and almost no pedal on a modern piano.

How do you start a trill in Bach? Is the Haydn answer the same?

In Bach, the trill starts on the upper note, on the beat (per Bach's 1720 Explication and C. P. E. Bach). In Haydn the default is also upper-note on-beat (C. P. E. Bach, Türk), but Haydn's notation is inconsistent — so you justify each one case by case.

Was Haydn's sonata written for harpsichord or fortepiano? Give the careful answer.

Disputed. The detailed dynamics (including f–p on neighbouring notes) rule out the harpsichord. Some say clavichord in 1771, touched up for the fortepiano in 1780; others reserve "first fortepiano sonata" for a later work. Safest: the markings demand a touch-sensitive instrument.

What was the c.1770 fortepiano like compared to a modern grand?

Five octaves, FF–f‴ = 61 keys; a wooden frame with no iron bracing; parallel (not over-) stringing; thin leather hammers; a light, shallow action with escapement; and very fast tone decay. Much lighter, quicker and crisper than a modern piano. Careful with two details: Viennese instruments of this date used hand stops, not knee levers (knee levers were Stein's, in Augsburg; Vienna kept hand levers into the 1790s) — so there was no sustaining device a player could operate while playing. And no Viennese-built fortepiano survives from before about 1780, so "the instrument Haydn had in 1771" is partly reconstruction.

Define Chopin's rubato as Mikuli documented it.

The left (accompanying) hand keeps strict time while the right (singing) hand moves freely around it, borrowing and giving back — Lenz heard Chopin call the left hand "the conductor". Steady oom-pah-pah left hand, flexible right hand.

What piano did Chopin prefer, and what does that mean on a modern grand?

Pleyel by preference (light, singing, transparent, fast precise dampers); Érard when off-form ("ready-made tone"). On a modern grand, literal pedal marks blur, so use lighter voicing and shallower pedalling.

How do you pedal the Chopin waltz, and why?

Change on every harmony, using the pedal to hold the bass note of each oom-pah-pah group rather than to blur. The place that most needs clean, frequent changes is the B section, bars 25–30 — that is where the chromatic descent lives (E–D♯–D♮–C♯–C♮–B). The coda's chromatic bass does the opposite: it rises (A–A♯–B–C♮), and its closing flourish is diatonic.

Bartók: tempo giusto or parlando-rubato, and why?

These are dances, so tempo giusto (strict) governs — tight and driving, not romanticised. Only the slow No. 3 (and to a lesser extent No. 4) gets a freer, singing delivery.

How long should the Bartók suite take, and what does his 4'03" tell you?

Careful with this one: 4′03″ is not a stopwatch reading Bartók took — it is the sum of seven per-section timings, and those were added in the 1934 revision, not the 1918 first edition. Metronome marks also differ between editions. So it tells you how brisk he expected the fast dances, not a target to hit. Most professionals take up to five minutes; the danger is inflating village dances until they lose their character.

How does the instrument change across your programme, and what does that mean for your playing?

Bach's harpsichord (no dynamics, no pedal) → Haydn's five-octave fortepiano (contrasts are events, not swells) → Chopin's Pleyel (singing, light pedalling) → Bartók's modern grand (percussive attack). Each work asks a different question about what a keyboard is for.

Which of your works is your List A piece, and what does List A mean at AMusA?

The Haydn Sonata in C minor Hob. XVI:20. At AMusA the lists are not historical periods — List A is the large multi-movement repertoire (sonatas, suites, variation sets: C. P. E. Bach, a Bach French Suite, Beethoven, Clementi, Dussek, Field, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert). The rule is "one work must be chosen from List A", so it is the one compulsory pillar of my programme.

Then which list is the Bach in — and what else lives there?

List B, the contrapuntal list. It runs from Bach's Forty-Eight and Handel's suite movements through Mendelssohn's Op. 35 and Reger's Op. 99 preludes and fugues all the way to Shostakovich's Op. 87. AMEB is sorting by what kind of piece it is, not by when it was written.

What are the programme requirements for AMusA piano, in the syllabus's own terms?

Duration not less than 25 and not more than 40 minutes, including appropriate gaps between pieces. One work from List A, and at least three works from any of Lists B, C or D. It is not necessary to have a work from every list, but the programme must cover at least three different styles and/or historical periods. Mine has four.

Are you taking the repeats in the Haydn — and why?

(Your call, but say the reasoning.) AMEB allows repeats "at the candidate's discretion, as long as all other program requirements are met" — so the choice is musical and arithmetical at once: the Haydn is the bulk of my timing, and dropping the exposition repeat pushes the programme towards the 25-minute floor. Note the separate, stricter rule in the next line: all da capo directions must be observed.

Why did you put these four works together?

Three angles, and a good answer uses more than one. Chronology: c. 1740 → 1771 → 1830 → 1915, four distinct periods. The instrument: harpsichord/clavichord → five-octave fortepiano → Pleyel → modern iron-framed grand, so the programme is nearly a history of the keyboard. Mode: three different uses of the minor, and then Bartók stepping outside major and minor altogether into the modes.

Where is the climax in each of your four works?

"The identification of climax points" is named outright in the syllabus, so have one ready for every piece. Bach: the fugue's final stretto, bar 25 — three voices within one bar, a crotchet apart, rectus–inversus–rectus, in the tonic. Haydn: the first movement's chromatic peak in the development (around bars 54–59), with the finale's refusal to resolve as the emotional climax of the whole sonata. Chopin: the coda — the texture thickens at every return of the refrain and arrives there. Bartók: the fortissimo close of No. 6, the fastest music in the set.

Name a non-keyboard work by each of your four composers.

The syllabus asks about "repertoire output (both in the discipline being examined and more broadly)" — so keyboard-only answers under-read the question. For example: Bach — the B minor Mass, the St Matthew Passion, the Brandenburg Concertos. Haydn — the symphonies, the Op. 20 and Op. 76 quartets, The Creation. Chopin — the two piano concertos, the Cello Sonata Op. 65, the Polish songs Op. 74 (he is the exception that proves the rule: almost everything he wrote involves piano). Bartók — six string quartets, Bluebeard's Castle, the Concerto for Orchestra, Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta.

Do you have to play from memory at AMusA?

No — but the wording is worth quoting: at Associate, "candidates are encouraged to present a portion of the programme from memory." It only becomes compulsory at Licentiate, and even there it is one complete work, not the whole recital. And whatever you do, you must still bring the music, because the general knowledge section is asked from the score.

What do the examiners need from you besides the playing?

"Candidates must provide the examiners with clear, unmarked copies of all scores" — and there are two examiners. Any reputable edition is fine for core repertoire, but arrangements must not be used. Also: nobody will turn pages for you, so page turns are your problem to solve in advance.

How is the AMusA practical result reported?

Award with Distinction / Award / No Award — a single holistic result, with no percentage and no separate mark for the playing and the discussion. Distinction requires everything a pass requires "and in addition… performance flair, consistent technical and musical command and penetrating stylistic insight."