Description: | Originally, the two-part pieces were entitled "Praeambulum" and the three-part "Fantasia"; they were part of the Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach of 1720. In 1723, Bach wrote them down again in a fair copy - in a new arrangement and with the new title, with numerous additional ornaments and a few corrections or rhythmic changes. In addition, there are two copies, one by an unknown Bach pupil probably around 1723, and one by Heinrich Nikolaus Gerber from 1725, both of which are richly ornamented.
In his fair copy of 1723, Bach arranged the inventions and symphonies in ascending order of key. In contrast to the "Well-Tempered Clavier", there are no pieces in the keys that were uncommon at the time.
The inventions and symphonies are not only occasionally played pieces, but mainly practice works for players and model instructions for composing; they are also contributions to a philosophy of music. They contain numerous examples of contrapuntal composition.
After countless attempts, I managed to get this invention reasonably error-free.It's a bit calmer than most of the other competitors, so I set my metronome, without which I can't manage something like this live, to 75 bpm; the trick in the end is not to listen to the metronome when a ritardando announces the end.
In the sheet music I pulled from the Petrucci Library, I saw that the pieces were edited for piano by none other than Carl Czerny. He prescribes 116 bpm, which I think is clearly too fast - strange for NeoBaroque that something is too fast, isn't it? |