Description
Lines moving by semitones run all through this F minor Invention, among the most chromatic in the set and known for its heavy, sombre expression. As No. 9 it stands near the middle of a collection that travels through fifteen keys from C major to B minor. It does not impress through speed; the way the two voices sound together is the point of it.
Over a 3/4 metre the two voices intertwine slowly. Against the subject the other hand sets a countermelody of clearly different character, and the two exchange places between the hands as the piece moves on; its 558 notes, in about 67 seconds, span C2 to C6.
Chromatic lines are awkward to finger, so connecting the melody in a singing line requires careful planning of the fingering. Both voices are equally important, and the challenge is not to let either turn into mere accompaniment. Slow the playback speed to check the semitone steps one by one, and follow how the two lines interweave through the hand colours; you will begin to hear where the piece's intense expression comes from.
A set of 15 two-part counterpoint studies (BWV 772-786) that Bach composed for his son's musical education.
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Sheet music provided by Mutopia Project
About the Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Johann Sebastian Bach was the towering figure of German Baroque music, serving for decades as Cantor of St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. Renowned for his mastery of counterpoint, he laid the foundations of keyboard music with works such as The Well-Tempered Clavier and the Inventions. This site includes minuets and polonaises from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, the Inventions and Sinfonias, and fugues from The Well-Tempered Clavier. The Notebook pieces are catalogued with BWV Anh. (appendix) numbers, but many are by other composers - Petzold's minuets among them - or by no one known, and most of their song pages give the current view of who wrote them.
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