{{Short description|1766 keyboard piece by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach}} {{for|the music education method|Solfège}} [[File:Solfeggio C.P.E. 1770.png|thumb|1770 score, published by C.P.E. and Michael Christian Bock. The German title material may be read, "A musical assortment. Fifth piece. / SOLFEGGIO by Herr Kapellmeister Bach, in Hamburg".]]

'''Solfeggietto''' (H 220, Wq. 117: 2) is a short solo keyboard piece in C minor composed in 1766 by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.{{sfn|Negri|2004|p=2}} Although the ''Solfeggietto'' title is widely used today, the work is correctly called ''Solfeggio''.{{sfn|Powers|2002|p=232}} Thomas Owens refers to the work as a toccata.{{sfn|Owens|1995|p=235}}

==Title== The title is puzzling. Emil Sauer offered a speculation: "The word 'Solfeggio' means to apply the syllable names{{efn|e.g. "do, re, mi"; see Solfège}} to the tones of the scale. This composition, employing, as it does, the broken form of chords in connection with some scale passages, may have suggested to the composer the name "Solfeggietto" on account of a fancied resemblance to a singer rendering these florid passages."{{sfn|Sauer|n.d.}} The resemblance Sauer notes is indeed "fanciful" in that many passages in the piece involve rapid leaps over several notes, which are easy to play on a keyboard instrument but almost impossible to sing at tempo.

The Italian word ''solfeggietto'' is simply the diminutive form of ''solfeggio''; i.e. "little solfeggio'". It is not known how this substituted form (''solfeggio'' appears on the 1770 title page) came into widespread use.

== Qualities == {{listen|type=music | filename = Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - Solfeggietto.ogg | title = Solfeggietto | description = Played on piano (1:04) }}

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.

The tempo mark given in the 1770 published edition is ''prestissimo''. This is the standard marking ''presto''—which already designates a very fast tempo—augmented with the Italian superlative suffix ''-issimo'', hence even faster than ''presto''.

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".{{sfn|Corneilson|2014|p=xiii}} Owens also describes it as C. P. E. Bach's most famous work.{{sfn|Owens|1995|p=235}}

<score sound="1">\relative c'{\new PianoStaff <<\new Staff{\key c \minor \hideNotes r4 \unHideNotes c16 ees d c b \hideNotes r8. \unHideNotes g'16 f ees d ees\noBeam c ees g c ees d c d c b a g f ees d} \new Staff{\key c \minor \clef "bass" ees,16\noBeam c ees g \hideNotes r4 r16 \unHideNotes g b d \hideNotes r4 r1}>>}</score>

== Notes ==

{{notelist}}

=== Citations === {{reflist}}

=== Sources === * {{cite book|last=Powers|first=Doris Bosworth|year=2002|title=Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: A Guide to Research|publisher=Psychology Press}} * {{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 web|title=The Essential C.P.E. Bach|editor-first=Paul|editor-last=Corneilson|year=2014 |work=Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: The Complete Works|publisher=Packard Humanities Institute|url=https://www.cpebach.org/toc/toc-Essential.html |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140825052506/http://cpebach.org/toc/toc-Essential.html |archivedate=2014-08-25 |url-status=live}} *{{cite web|editor-last=Sauer|editor-first=Emil|date=n.d. |title=Solfeggietto and Allegro di Molto |location=St. Louis and London |publisher=Art Publication Society |url=https://s9.imslp.org/files/imglnks/usimg/c/ce/IMSLP367253-SIBLEY1802.28246.3e10-39087032303382score.pdf}}

== External links ==

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

{{C. P. E. Bach}} {{portal bar|Classical music}} {{authority control}}

category:compositions by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach category:compositions in C minor category:compositions for solo piano