Johann Sebastian Bach

8ème Invention A 2 Voix Fa Majeur BWV 779

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We have set ourselves the goal of offering both "must-haves" from the classical repertoire and pieces by sometimes forgotten composers, all of undeniable pedagogical value. Each piece, sold individually, has been the subject of careful editorial work, both in terms of the musical text and its engraving, in order to guarantee musicians the conditions essential to the pleasures derived from frequent trade in these works.

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Jean Sebastien Bach wrote 15 Inventions for two voices (BWV 772-786) and 15 Inventions for three voices (BWV 787-801), which he called Sinfonias. He published them in Cöthen in 1723. They are didactic works. Bach's main aim with these thirty inventions was to instruct and establish a method for children. In the preface to one of the autograph manuscripts of the Inventions, he expresses his thoughts: "A sincere method intended for amateurs and apprentices, to teach them to play correctly with two parts, to proceed subsequently correctly and well with two or three obligatory parts, to have good inventions, to acquire a singing way of playing, as well as a foretaste of composition".
Thus the pieces are grouped according to the order of the semitones of the scale, and not according to the increasing complication of the keys. Each invention has a single thematic motif. This motif can be enlarged into a theme and then carried out in counterpoint with other smaller motifs, and the search for a rigorous balance in each invention is a great difficulty that may be beyond the comprehension of a novice pianist. In these pieces, Bach integrates a whole panoply of technical devices such as canon, counterpoint, the complexity of composition requiring the use of the harmonic pedal, and the way to ornament a thematic motif.
We can glimpse in these Inventions a way of synthesizing his working method and an initiation to musical writing.
On a binary 3/4 rhythm, Bach shows a joyful and light side in this piece. An octave canon is the focal point of Invention no. 8. This passage is interspersed with musical moments that take the form of melodic curves in thirds between the two hands, or descending harmonic marches.
Not a note, melodic phrase or writing device is indispensable in this miniature. Nothing superfluous clutters the melodic designs. Everything is pared down to reveal pleasant, fleeting climaxes of great sensitivity for the performer.