Solfeggietto

The work is unusual for a keyboard piece in that the main theme and some other passages are fully monophonic, i.e. only one note is played at a time. The piece is commonly assigned to piano students and appears in many anthologies; pedagogically it fosters the playing of an even sixteenth note rhythm by alternating hands.

This piece is easily Bach's best-known, to the point that Paul Corneilson's introduction to The Essential C.P.E. Bach is subtitled "Beyond the Solfeggio in C Minor"."[https://web.archive.org/web/20140825052506/http://cpebach.org/toc/toc-Essential.html Contents of The Essential C.P.E. Bach]". Via archive.org. Owens also describes it as C. P. E. Bach's most famous work.{{sfn|Owens|1995|p=235}}

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The piece appears in Breaking Bad, in the third episode of the fifth season, played by Skinny Pete (Charles Baker).{{Cite web |title=Breaking Bad - Reazioni collaterali S5:E3 - StreamingCommunity |url=https://streamingcommunity.blog/watch/3?e=81 |access-date=2022-09-08 |website=streamingcommunity.blog}}

Canadian pianist Marc-André Hamelin has arranged the piece with additional voices as Solfeggietto a cinque for player piano.Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211210/hzFOkGfqaeE Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20141214050649/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzFOkGfqaeE&gl=US&hl=en Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite AV media| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzFOkGfqaeE| title = Marc-André Hamelin - Solfeggietto a cinque for Player Piano | website=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}

Jazz pianist Bud Powell plays the Solfeggietto in full before improvising on it in his 1957 "Bud on Bach."{{Cite book |last=Ramsey |first=Guthrie P. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt2jcc05 |title=The Amazing Bud Powell: Black Genius, Jazz History, and the Challenge of Bebop |date=2013 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-24391-0 |edition=1 |jstor=10.1525/j.ctt2jcc05 }}

Peter Tork plays it on an electric piano in "33&1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee", a television special, starring the Monkees, which aired on NBC on April 14, 1969.{{cn|date=March 2024}}

German power metal band At Vance performed an arrangement for guitar in their 2002 album Only Human, incorrectly attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach.{{Cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/master/463176-At-Vance-Only-Human|title=At Vance - Only Human|website=Discogs|access-date=2024-09-28}}{{Cite web|url=https://credits.muso.ai/track/be668428-fb9e-4ad7-ac06-90b635c9073e|title=Solfeggietto|website=Muso|access-date=2024-09-28}}

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• {{cite book|last=Negri|first=Paul|year=2004|title=Baroque Keyboard Masterpieces: 39 Works by Bach, Handel, Scarlatti, Couperin and Others|publisher=Courier Dover Publications}}
• {{cite book|last=Owens|first=Thomas|year=1995|title=Bebop: The Music and Its Players|location=Oxford|publisher=Oxford University Press}}
• {{cite book|last=Powers|first=Doris Bosworth|year=2002|title=Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: A Guide to Research|publisher=Psychology Press}}

• {{IMSLP|work=Solfeggio in C minor, H.220 (Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel)|cname=Solfeggietto}}

{{C. P. E. Bach}}

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category:compositions by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

category:compositions in C minor

category:compositions for solo piano