10 points for best and detailed answer!?

Question

can someone tell me about bach's inventions and WHY he wrote them? HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 1

Bach's Two Part Inventions is a series of music that revolve around left-and-right hand co-ordination; as well as the Key Signatures.

First of all, the Key Signatures. Each Two-Part Invention has a different key.
Inv 1 - C M
Inv 2 - C m
Inv 3 - D M
Inv 4 - D m
Inv 5 - Eb M
Inv 6 - E M
Inv 7 - E m
Inv 8 - F M
Inv 9 - F m
Inv 10 - G M
Inv 11 - G m
Inv 12 - A M
Inv 13 - A m (and one of his most popular)
Inv 14 - Bb M
Inv 15 - B m

Now, Bach, in the primitive stage of tuning, had to select only certain Keys, because the tuning of his time (Baroque Period) needed to exact to the meantone system (the system of tuning - some sharps and flats would not work with others).

Besides teaching the keys, Bach also wrote these 2-Part Inventions to teach his students (and kids) how to make both hand stick out, and sound harmoniously together.

Each song is a bit tricky for those who have a hard time with varying dynamics, based on the sentence above. The right hand plays out the tune, with a left hand accompainment. Then the left hand will play out the tune, whilst the right hand plays what the left hand played in the beginning.

Bach, on the autographed version wrote this, as to why he wrote them:
"Sincere Instruction, in which lovers of keyboard music, and especially those desiring to learn to play, are shown a clear way not only to learn to play cleanly in two parts, but also after further prgoress, to proceed correctly and well with three obbligato parts, and at the same time, not only to compose good inventions, but to develop them well; but most of all, to achieve a cantabile style in playing, and to acquire a taste for the elements of composition." - J.S. Bach

Thus, basically what I said above: to help you learn how to play harmoniously with two hands at the same time.
Also, to teach people how to compose -- You don't need to have the tune in the right hand always; and change the key once in awhile.

The same would apply to his Sinfonias (3-Part Inventions). Yet he doesn't have 2 beautiful sounds coming out; rather, three...

Hope this helps
-m♪tt
"Artists like Bach and Beethoven erected churches and temples on the heights. I only wanted... to build dwellings for men in which they might feel happy and at home." - E. Grieg

Answer 2

first of all, I am not competing today, so I don't want the 10 points .... and second, you must verify any information you receive here online if your reliablity as a scholar depends upon it, so if you wish some information you know is reliable, you can check here online:

J.S. Bach - Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia/wiki/Bach

it is a good, quick, reliable source of starter information - with links to follow, and those can be very productive .....

To research this topic, look in any reference work under keyboard works::::: there are two sets of inventions: Two-part Inventions and Three-part inventions......you should find out
** when they were written
** where he was living at the time
** who he knew at the time, if that is important (like a patron who might have given him financial support)
** what kind of keyboard instrument(s) they were written for
** as for the *why* of them all, the reason they were written::::::you need to ascertain if he wrote them for someone as a present, or if he wrote them to celebrate or suit a new musical instrument introduced during the period, or maybe for a commission from some person who under-wrote their composition (i.e. gave money to Bach to write them), or what ....???

**As for what was written by the person here who cited God, I could not agree more. That topic belongs to the category of sublimity !!!

** To this I could add a favorite anecdote: that in reply to a question of how he composed so many beautiful melodies, Bach replied: "Why, it is perfectly simple! When I arise in the morning, they are simply there, lying around all over the floor, waiting to be picked up !!!"

xxx
Bois
>>>iii<<<
Merry Christmas

Answer 3

#1 in C major is in three sections, in C major (from ms. 1), G major (from ms. 7), and a minor (from ms. 15).

#2 in c minor begins with a canon. In the soprano voice, the subject and 4 countersubjects begin on ms. 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9.

#3 in D major cadences in the dominant on measure 12. There then follows a modulatory passage when ends on a recapitulation at measure 43.

#4 in d minor has been cited as an example of second species (2 against 1) counterpoint. The piece is divided into three sections, in the tonic (from ms. 1), the relative major (from ms. 18), and the dominant minor (from ms. 38). Notice the deceptive cadence in ms. 48-49.

In #5, in Eb major, the second voice answers in the dominant instead of the tonic. So some people might say that it is a fugue instead of an invention. The remaining sections are Episode 1 (ms. 9), Exposition 2 (ms. 12), Episode 2 (ms. 20), Exposition 3 (ms. 27), and Coda (ms. 30). At ms. 16, we see the only modulation to supertonic in the entire book.

#6, in E major is the only invention in which the subject is introduced in the bass. Notice the inversion of voices, or "stimmtausch," in ms. 5. The sections are Expo 1 (ms. 1), Episode 1 (ms. 9), Expo 2 (ms. 21), Episode 2 (ms. 29), Expo 3 (ms. 43), and Episode 3 (ms. 51).

Here are a few more goodies about #6: we start ms. 39 with an A major interval in g# minor, which makes it a Neopolitan sixth. We cadence in that key in ms. 42. This is the most remote modulation in the book. The lowest note in the bass is on the very last measure.

Note that the invention begins with an ascending scale in one voice and a descending scale in the other voice. For an example of the term "inversion," this piece cannot be beat.

In #7, in e minor, ms. 7, in the relative major, has been marked as the second section. Note the Phrygian cadence at ms. 11 1/2, the stretto passage in ms. 11-12, and the deceptive cadence in ms. 22.

#8 in F major is divided into the first section in the tonic (ms. 1), the second section in the dominant (ms. 12, note the reversal of voices), and the third section in the sub-dominant (ms. 26). This piece is unusual in that the last section does not recapitulate the begnning.

#9 n f minor is divided into Expo 1 (ms. 1), Episode 1 (ms. 9), Expo 2 in the dominant (ms. 17), Episode 2 (ms. 21), and Expo 3 (ms. 29). Thelast two measures form the coda. Notice the stimmtausch in ms. 5.

#10, in G major, is the only invention in a major key which does not modulate. However, the answer is in the dominant. In the second section (ms. 14), there is a canon in the fifth. The recapitulation begins on ms. 27. On ms. 30, there is a deceptive cadence, as in #7.

#11, in g minor, is divided into Expo 1 (ms. 1), Episode 1 (ms. 5 1/2), Expo 2 in the dominant (ms. 7), Episode 2 (ms. 9), Expo 3 in the subdominant (ms. 13), Episode 3 (ms. 16 1/2), Expo 3 in the tonic (ms. 18 1/2), and the Coda (ms. 21).

#12, in A major, is divided into Expo 1 (ms. 1), Episode 1 (ms. 4 1/2), Expo 2 in the relative minor (ms. 9), Episode 2 (ms. 12 1/2), and Expo 3 in the tonic (ms. 18).

#13, in a minor, is divided into three sections, in the tonic (ms. 1), the relative major (ms. 6 1/2), and the tonic (ms. 18).

#14, in Bb major, doesn't divide up so neatly. However, we notice an exposition in the dominant, with the voices reversed, at ms. 6 and a canon at ms. 12.

#15 would make a dandy exercise in dissonances: it contains passing tones, neighor tones, anticipations, and suspensions. The divisions are Expo 1 (ms. 1), Episode 1 (ms. 7 1/2), Expo 2 in the relative major (ms. 12), Episode 2 (ms. 16), and Expo 3 in the tonic (ms. 18).

Note that the opening exposition is prolonged (ms. 5 1/2) by repeating the subject and countersubject in the dominant. Note the deceptive cadence at ms. 7 1/2.

Answer 4

Can't add anything to that, except:
At the end of all his compositions, Johann Sebastian Bach wrote 'To God alone the glory'.
Meaning that he (as opposed to today's politically correct media) recognized that God gave him his talent and should be recognized as it's true inventor.