Bach wrote a set of fifteen two-part Inventions to serve two purposes. They were intended to provide keyboard exercises of intermediate difficulty, and to demonstrate compositional techniques in counterpoint. Bach also wrote fifteen three-part Sinfonias for the same purposes, with additional complexity.
Two-Part Inventions
Compositional processes
Analysis and Harmonic Relationships
Procedures to follow in writing a two-part invention in the style of Bach
Assignment: Write the first 8-12 measures of a two-part Invention
Three-Part Sinfonias
Compositional processes
Analysis and Harmonic Relationships
Materials
Music for Analysis
Examples and Activities