Invention No. 9 in F minor BWV 780

About this work

One line descends in semiquavers while the other rises from the bass. Bach’s Invention No. 9 in F minor, BWV 780, sets two directions in motion in its very first bar. The voices then exchange motifs, with tied notes extending one phrase while the other keeps moving.
The task is to keep both lines audible. Play the right hand while singing the bass, then swap roles. Where a tie prolongs a note, hold it for its full value without leaning on the other hand’s new notes. That lets the voice continue even as the fingers move into a different pattern.
The four flats in the key signature do not predict every pitch: added accidentals make the lines particularly mobile. Find the semitones within each motif and listen to them slowly against the three-beat pulse. The printed ornaments in the more widely spaced passages need to belong to that same melodic line.


What the document contains

The two-page PDF contains the complete keyboard Invention, BWV 780. The engraving by jeff covey, distributed by Mutopia from the Bach-Gesellschaft edition, is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0. The PDF retains the printed ornaments. A MIDI file accompanies the score. An added link points to LesPartitions.info.