Inventions and Sinfonias

The Inventions and Sinfonias, BWV 772–801, also known as the Two- and Three-Part Inventions, are a collection of thirty short keyboard compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750): 15 inventions, which are two-part contrapuntal pieces, and 15 sinfonias, which are three-part contrapuntal pieces. They were originally written as Praeambula and Fantasiae in the Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, a clavier-booklet for his eldest son, and later rewritten as musical exercises for his students.

Bach titled the collection:

Forthright instruction, wherewith lovers of the clavier, especially those desirous of learning, are shown in a clear way not only 1) to learn to play two voices clearly, but also after further progress 2) to deal correctly and well with three obbligato parts, moreover at the same time to obtain not only good ideas, but also to carry them out well, but most of all to achieve a cantabile style of playing, and thereby to acquire a strong foretaste of composition.

The two groups of pieces are both arranged in order of ascending key, each group covering eight major and seven minor keys. The inventions were composed in Köthen; the sinfonias, on the other hand, were probably not finished until the beginning of the Leipzig period. The autograph fair copy is dated 1723.

Media

Key	Invention		Sinfonia
C major	File:BWV 772 preview.png		File:BWV 787 Incipit.png
C minor	File:BWV 773 preview.png		File:BWV 788 Incipit.png
D major	File:BWV 774 preview.png		File:BWV 789 Incipit.png
D minor	File:BWV 775 preview.png		File:BWV 790 Incipit.png
E♭ major	File:BWV 776 preview.png		File:BWV 791 Incipit.png
E major	File:BWV 777 Incipit.png		File:BWV 792 Incipit.png
E minor	File:BWV 778 Incipit.png		File:BWV 793 Incipit.png
F major	File:BWV 779 Incipit.png		File:BWV 794 Incipit.png
F minor	File:BWV 780 Incipit.png		File:BWV 795 Incipit.png
G major	File:BWV 781 Incipit.png		File:BWV 796 Incipit.png
G minor	File:BWV 782 Incipit.png		File:BWV 797 Incipit.png
A major	File:BWV 783 Incipit.png		File:BWV 798 Incipit.png
A minor	File:BWV 784 Incipit.png		File:BWV 799 Incipit.png
B♭ major	File:BWV 785 Incipit.png		File:BWV 800 Incipit.png
B minor	File:BWV 786 Incipit.png		File:BWV 801 Incipit.png
	These (Inventions) are MIDI representations of Bach's music, and do not convey how a human pianist would perform them.		All Sinfonia performances above were played by Randolph Hokanson. A version of Sinfonia No. 8 (BWV 794) for clarinet, oboe and cello and another version of Sinfonia No. 15 (BWV 801).

External links

• Inventions, Sinfonias: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
• Bach's Inventions and Sinfonias, Mutopia Project
• Yo Tomita (1999). "The Inventions and Sinfonias – History and analysis of Bach's inventions". Archived from the original on 2012-01-20.
• Graphical motif extraction of the Inventions and Sinfonias Archived 2012-03-03 at the Wayback Machine