Invention (musical composition)

pedagogical

exercises for composition students.

Form

Inventions are similar in style to a

development, and, sometimes, a short recapitulation

. The key difference is that inventions do not generally contain an answer to the subject in fugue does. Two-part and three-part inventions are in contrapuntal style.

Exposition

In the exposition, a short

countersubject or plays in free counterpoint

.

Development

The development comprises the bulk of the piece. Here the composer develops the subject by writing

half cadence in the original key, and is often exaggerated to make the subject sound extra special when it returns.^[1] Many of Bach‘s Inventions follow this plan, including BWV 775 and BWV 782

.

If an invention does have any recapitulation at all, it tends to be extremely short—sometimes only two or four measures. The composer repeats the theme in the upper voice and the piece ends. The repetition of the theme contains very little variation (or no variation at all) on the original theme. The lower line usually plays the countersubject, and if there is no countersubject, plays in free

History

The invention is primarily a work of Johann Sebastian Bach. Inventions originated from contrapuntal improvisations in Italy, especially from the form of the composer Francesco Antonio Bonporti. Bach adapted and modified the form to what is considered to be a formal invention. Bach wrote 15 inventions (BWV 772–786) as exercises for his son, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach. Bach later wrote a set of 15 three-part inventions, called sinfonias (BWV 787–801).

External links

[1] David Fuentes, "Figuring out Melody" "Figuring out Melody". Archived from the original on 2015-02-15. Retrieved 2012-01-04.

[1]