Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
The chorale from Bach's Cantata No. 147 (1723), arranged for piano by Myra Hess (1926)
No speed is printed on this score, so Clefsight plays it at quarter note = 86: the usual pace of hymn tunes. Its length counts from that.
Plays on a MIDI keyboard in Chrome, Edge or Firefox on a computer, or Chrome on an Android phone or tablet, or on the keys on screen without one.
Versions
Each easier version only leaves notes out and adds none, so every note in it is the piece's own. Print any of them free.
- As written1521 notes
- Melody and a simpler left hand989 notes
- Melody and left-hand roots626 notes
- Right-hand melody555 notes
The easy version, the melody and a simpler left hand at level 3, engraved on its own page.
To practise it on paper: a practice chart for this piece, a week of steps from each hand alone to full tempo, with their speeds.
What it asks of you
- Treble clef from A3 to C6, with ledger lines
- Bass clef from D1 to G4, with ledger lines
- Key signature: 1 sharp (G major or E minor)
- Accidentals: naturals, sharps outside the key
- Rhythm: quarter notes, half notes, whole notes, dotted half notes, eighth notes, dotted quarter notes, sixteenth notes, triplets
- Intervals: octaves, 6ths, 3rds (skips), 4ths, 5ths, 2nds (steps)
- Chords: inverted triads, triads
- Hands playing together, moving the hand to a new position, one hand moving while the other holds, hands in different rhythms, hands taking turns
What stands between you and this piece
Clefsight compares the notes of this piece with what you already read.
Score typed for Clefsight from Oxford University Press, London, 1926 (scan on the Internet Archive), checked note for note, shared under CC0 1.0; the composition is public domain: Johann Sebastian Bach died in 1750, and so is Myra Hess’s arrangement. Credits