Useful “Inventions”
The lightbulb is a useful invention. So is the telephone. Johann Sebastian Bach also produced some Inventions that pianists have found useful for over two hundred years.
As mentioned in an earlier post, J.S. Bach was one of the most influential Baroque composers. He wrote over 1,000 works not only for the piano, but for other keyboard instruments such as the harpsichord and pipe organ, as well as vocal music, chamber music, and even orchestral works. He wrote the Inventions and Sinfonias to help him in teaching piano to his son Wilhelm Friedemann Bach. For the rest of his life, he used this work in teaching his other pupils, and manuscript copies circulated widely, although it did not appear in print until after his death.
Since then, these Inventions (along with their friends the Sinfonias) have become staples of the piano student’s repertoire. The two halves of this work are sometimes published separately, with the result that some pianists are more familiar with the title Two-Part Inventions, referring to the first part of the work.
Why are they still so highly regarded? Let’s take a look at Bach’s own words to help understand what he was trying to accomplish. Here’s what he wrote as an introduction to the work:
“Straightforward Instruction, in which amateurs of the keyboard, and especially the eager ones, are shown a clear way not only (1) of learning to play cleanly in two voices, but also, after further progress, (2) of dealing correctly and satisfactorily with three obbligato parts; at the same time not only getting good inventiones, but developing the same satisfactorily, and above all arriving at a cantabile manner in playing, all the while acquiring a strong foretaste of composition.”
In other words, Bach wanted to provide his son with music that was not too challenging for a strong beginner, yet would still help him learn vital skills in rhythm, articulation, fingering, phrasing, and ornamentation. He would begin with the Inventions, fifteen pieces in the most popular keys of the day, each of which is written with two independent, interlocking parts. Once these were mastered, he would add complexity by moving on to the three-part Sinfonias.
The Inventions are excellent examples of contrapuntal music, a style for which Bach was justly famous. In contrapuntal music, there are two independent musical lines which interact harmoniously with one another while retaining their individuality. What this means in practical terms is that the part played by the left hand is in no way subordinate to that played by the right. The two parts must be played with equal rigor — and are equally challenging. For right-handed piano students working to master Bach’s Inventions, this means the left hand gets quite an unaccustomed work-out.
Finally, it should be noted that Bach did not want his son or other students to master technique alone. His ultimate goal (”above all”) in writing these Inventions was to help them “arrive at a cantabile manner of playing.” Cantabile means “with a singing tone,” so it is clear that Bach did not intend for students to master technique alone, at the expense of musicality. While the student will certainly find the Inventions technically challenging, it is not enough to play them note-perfect. The student must strive to make them sing.
These short masterpieces were never intended to be mere finger-exercises alone, but true music. Perhaps that is why they are still such an essential part of the pianist’s repertoire.
