Bach's two-part inventions

1. What are Bach Two-Part Inventions?
2. What is a 2 Part Invention?
3. When did Bach write his two-part inventions?

What are Bach Two-Part Inventions?

The Inventions and Sinfonias, BWV 772–801, also known as the Two- and Three-Part Inventions, are a collection of thirty short keyboard compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750): 15 inventions, which are two-part contrapuntal pieces, and 15 sinfonias, which are three-part contrapuntal pieces.

What is a 2 Part Invention?

In a two-part invention, the first voice plays the main theme while the other accompanies in free counterpoint. The voices then switch, with the second voice playing the main theme and the first providing counterpoint. Inventions can also have countersubjects that accompany the main subject of the piece.

When did Bach write his two-part inventions?

Bach's Inventions and Sinfonias were written about the year 1723 in Cöthen, included in a collection of pieces designed for the education of his eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, later employed as an organist in Dresden and then in Hallé, before his final years in Berlin.