When I was thinking about what form to use for my first percussion duet example, I remembered Bach’s unique two-part inventions that always interested me. This was a great opportunity to learn more about them, but more than that, it turned out to be an even better chance to take a closer look at baroque music theory as well.
The early version of Bach’s two-part inventions appeared in his collection Clavierbüchlein, a musical notebook for his eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (Fig. 1), compiled “on 22 January Anno 1720.” The instruction is organized systematically and thoughtfully: the first half consists of pieces focused on finger exercises with simple chorale preludes, suites, and 11 preludes that were later expanded and integrated into the Well-Tempered Clavier; The second half focuses on counterpoint and consists of the suites by Telemann and partita by Stölzel, but most importantly, this is where the fifteen two-part praeambulae and three-part fantasias first appear, which will be retitled and revised into Inventions and Sinfonias. (Tomita, 1999)
Fig. 1. J. S. Bach (left) and his son Wilhelm (right) Continue reading “Example 1 Research: Musical Rhetoric and Bach’s Two-Part Inventions”