Bach Inventions

[deandeblock]

Hello everyone,


my teacher has been hinting at gradually starting the Bach Inventions in the near future.

Bach titled the works with:

Honest method, by which the amateurs of the keyboard – especially, however, those desirous of learning – are shown a clear way not only (1) to learn to play cleanly in two parts, but also, after further progress, (2) to handle three obligate parts correctly and well; and along with this not only to obtain good inventions (ideas) but to develop the same well; above all, however, to achieve a cantabile style in playing and at the same time acquire a strong foretaste of composition.

My long term goal is more in composition and I would like to learn more about the subject.


Does anybody know a good book or work which has the inventions in it with an analysis of composition and harmony?

[adodd81802]

Not sure myself, but here's a link with some detailed information.

https://musicofyesterday.com/historical-music-theory/how-to-study-the-two-voiced-inventions-of-bach/

I don't know if you can find it free but here's a book on them also

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bach-Patterns-Invention-Laurence-Dreyfus/dp/0674013565

Google

[deandeblock]

Thanx for the links adodd

I presume that book (Bach Patterns) is more of a history book instead of raw analysis...?


But i found this one: https://www.amazon.com/Analytical-Survey-Fifteen-Two-Part-Inventions/dp/0819125830/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1446634903&sr=8-1&keywords=bach+inventions+analysis

[CC]

Though I am no Bach expert, I have written some relevant material you may be interested in, including some compositional aspects. Go to my web page (link below), then download 3rd edition, and look into relevant sections in Table of Contents, such as sections 44 - 50, and 66 - 67; also references to Bach, such as Tomita, Brandt, and Solomon in Reference section.  Some highlights: Bach used parallel sets (section 9 - 10) to compose his Inventions; the best "proof" of this is the fact that he realized his mistake in Invention #1 that included two parallel sets, and re-wrote it by eliminating the one that did not belong.  This is the first time someone found the reason why there are two versions of #1.  I also propose that Hanon pulled his stuff from Bach (section 42); how can you go wrong, if it comes from Bach, right?  What a mistake Hanon made!  Another observation is that Beethoven invented group theory before the mathematicians did, and his 5th symphony, when translated into math, reads like the first chapter of a book on group theory. Also, Mozart composed almost all of his compositions based on a repetitive structure in the famous melody of "Twinkle, twinkle, little star", which is why he could compose several pieces of music at once in his head, write them down backwards and forwards from anywhere, etc., because they all followed the same formula. All of which says that the most famous melodies are the simplest (such as LVB's 9th, which is just the chromatic scale). Did you know that the piano has the same structure as a slide rule and that the brain can map it into itself so when you play the piano, an analogous "thing" is happening in the brain (my hypothesis)?  Thus when you play harmony on the piano, you are multiplying and dividing frequencies in logarithmic space (the chromatic scale is logarithmic), which is the only way by which the brain can keep track of frequencies of sounds, and how the brain identifies tonics of chords.  This explains chord progressions and why you need to return to the originating chord for the music to end satisfactorily.