Inventions and Sinfonias, BWV 772-801

Historical context

The Fifteen Two-part Inventions and Fifteen Three-part Inventions, also called Symphonies, were composed at Cothen in 1723. As ‘the book, 1723’ notes, Bach wrote these pieces during lessons for particular pupils, afterwards improving them into beautiful and expressive compositions. They were intended as “An honest Guide, in which lovers of the Clavier are shown a clear method of playing correctly in two parts,” and Bach was careful to provide exercises for both hands and for every finger. In the two-part inventions, Bach created a form altogether new for his time.

While the original forms of the two-part ‘Inventions’ were full of fiorituri, reflecting the taste of his period, Bach closely revised them. Forkel notes that the Inventions occasionally exhibited “melodic poverty and roughness” in their original form, but Bach eventually revised them, “removing everything that offended his maturer taste,” so that they now stand as “masterpieces of pure music.” Forkel adds that they are “invaluable exercises for the fingers and hands and sound instructors of taste, serving as the best introduction to Bach’s larger works.” The duets, four clavier pieces in the form of inventions, were written with the obvious intention of showing that it was possible to “display the greatest harmonic richness with perfect distinctness even within the limits of a clavier piece in two parts,” though ‘the book’ notes they were often considered “caviare to the general” due to their “enormous harmonic wealth and severity of ideas within limited material.”

Drawn from Forkel, Johann Nikolaus, 1749-1818; Terry, Charles Sanford, 1864-1936, Johann Sebastian Bach; his life, art, and work, tr. from the German of Johann Nikolaus Forkel, with notes and appendices (1920); Spitta, Philipp, 1841-1894, Johann Sebastian Bach : his work and influence on the music of Germany, 1685-1750 (1899) — public domain, archive.org.