Bach Two-Part Inventions, BWV 772-786
15 inventions, free to read, hear and print, in the composer's own order.
Open the sheet music libraryBach wrote the fifteen inventions for his eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann, and copied them out fair in 1723 with a preface saying what they were for: to teach a player to handle two voices cleanly, to invent good ideas and develop them, and above all to play in a singing style. Each one takes a short idea and passes it between the hands, the left answering the right, for a page or two.
They are in Bach's order, rising through the keys from C. Almost every piano student meets them sooner or later, usually No. 1 in C, No. 4 in D minor or No. 8 in F first, and the reader lets you hear each hand on its own before you put them together.
About the pieces
Invention No. 2 in C minor BWV 773
The second of the fifteen two-part inventions, written as teaching pieces for Bach's eldest son. This one is a strict canon for most of its length: the left hand copies the right, two bars behind.
Invention No. 4 in D minor BWV 775
One of the fifteen inventions Bach wrote for his son's instruction, and the one most people meet third or fourth.
Invention No. 7 in E minor, BWV 778
The seventh of Bach's two-part Inventions, and one of the more sombre, with a falling subject that winds down the E minor scale. Its lines are full of chromatic steps that give it a searching, serious tone.
Invention No. 8 in F major, BWV 779
From the fifteen two-part Inventions Bach wrote for his students. The right hand opens with a leaping figure that climbs up the F major chord, and the left hand follows with the same line exactly one bar later, a strict canon that runs for the first bars.
Invention No. 10 in G major, BWV 781
The tenth of Bach's fifteen two-part inventions, the set he wrote out for his son Wilhelm Friedemann to learn clean playing in two voices. Its theme is little more than a G major chord broken upwards in a lilting 9/8, which gives the whole piece the swing of a gigue.
Invention No. 11 in G minor, BWV 782
Bach's two-part Inventions were written as keyboard lessons for his son and students. In this one the answering voice carries a line that slides down by semitones, giving the piece a quietly sorrowful colour against the more active subject.
Invention No. 12 in A major, BWV 783
The twelfth of Bach's two-part Inventions, in a rocking 12/8 that gives it a pastoral, swinging feel. The opening figure, a curling run of semiquavers, is passed back and forth between the hands.
Invention No. 15 in B-minor BWV 786 (re
The last of the fifteen two-part inventions, and the most intricate of them.