Green notes: right hand, blue notes: left hand. Preview played right in your browser with the app's real piano (lightweight version). Inside Pianovera: full multi-layer sound, fingering display and Wait mode.
There's no melody anywhere in this piece. Just chords, broken into the same gentle pattern from the first bar to the last. It has opened Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier since 1722 and serves as the first real Bach for generations of pianists, precisely because once you understand the pattern, the whole MIDI file reads like an open book.
Gounod famously laid his Ave Maria right on top of it, which tells you how complete the harmony is on its own. Your only job here is evenness: every note of the arpeggio carrying the same weight, the bass grounded but never heavy. It's a piece about patience and listening, which is exactly what a beginner needs most.
Prelude in C major BWV 846: the first notes
Right hand, in letter names (C4 = middle C): G4 C5 E5 G4 C5 E5 G4 C5 E5 G4 C5 E5 A4 D5 F5 A4 D5 F5 A4 D5 F5 A4 D5 F5… The rest scrolls in the preview above, with the fingering, and the sheet music PDF has the whole piece.
Play Prelude in C major BWV 846 on the virtual piano
Here are the Prelude in C major BWV 846 virtual piano notes, in computer keyboard letters: the first 4 bars of the melody. One key per note, read left to right; dark keys are the sharps, and a thin line marks each bar.
Letters for a QWERTY keyboardYour keyboard: 48 notes
TIPTIPTIPTIP
YO[YO[YO[YO[
TO[TO[TO[TO[
TIPTIPTIPTIP
▶ Play on the virtual pianoThe piano opens with this piece loaded: the key to play lights up and waits for you.
What you'll be working on
Perfectly even arpeggios, finger after finger
Thumb crossings without an accent sneaking in
Following the harmony (each bar changes exactly one thing)
Holding the bass while the pattern spins above it
Playing Prelude in C major BWV 846 on piano with Pianovera
In Pianovera's slow Scroll mode this prelude turns hypnotic: the same shape repeats while the harmony slides underneath, bar after bar. A great way to lock in a steady pulse during your first weeks.
Open Prelude in C major BWV 846 in Pianovera: the notes fall toward an 88-key virtual piano keyboard, each hand gets its color, and Wait mode is there if you're starting out. On a PC, it's falling notes piano software for Windows, with video export up to 4K.
Free, with no time limit and no ads: 30 pieces (10 in full, 20 in a simplified version), the first 10 lessons and 10 minutes of 3D hands (then 15 seconds per piece). Premium opens all 651 pieces.
Download the Prelude in C major BWV 846 MIDI and sheet music
The work itself is in the public domain, and this MIDI engraving was placed in the public domain by its typesetter on the Mutopia Project. Use it freely, videos included.
About this piece
Is Prelude in C major BWV 846 hard to play on piano?
We rate it beginner: 549 notes over 2:20, spanning C2 to A5. The first thing to work on: perfectly even arpeggios, finger after finger.
Where can I get the sheet music for Prelude in C major BWV 846?
Right on this page: the "View the sheet music" button opens the PDF (73 KB), engraved by the Mutopia Project from the same source as the MIDI file, Public domain license. View it, print it, keep it.
Is the Prelude in C major BWV 846 MIDI file really free?
Yes. Johann Sebastian Bach died more than 70 years ago, so the work (1722) is public domain. This MIDI engraving is public domain too: download it and use it freely, videos included.
