J.S. Bach | Invention 2 arr. violin & cello duo
Channel: PlentyMusic
Date: 2024-04-07

Improve #musicpractice routines playing J.S.#Bach’s #Invention 2 #BWV773 arr. violin & cello duo in the key of C minor. The Bach Inventions performed as duos offer excellent #practice&performance opportunities. The realisation/sheetmusic video plays back at 50 bpm #sheetmusic & play-along accompaniments link: https://plentymusic.co.uk/short/?c=TSjYH7L 

This is a melodic two part invention with ornaments in place that needs to be played with feeling and sensitivity. pdf sheet music download and play-a-long mp3 accompaniments are available to download from PlentyMusic.  Playing the Bach Inventions as part of a duo encourages good intonation, that is, playing in tune, in duet playing.  Legato playing is required when performing this invention in what is a slow tempo and melancholy movement. This is music that requires both method and determination in the way that it is approached. 

Bach composed much music as a teacher with the performing and teaching context often relating to his own children. Four of his sons became important composers relevant in music history because they link the baroque era with the classical.  

The inventions offer excellent opportunities to instrumentalists to improve their ensemble playing skill set and develop an understanding of baroque compositional processes. The inventions are uncompromising in the demands they place on performers requiring accuracy technique and concentrated listening.

Playing the relevant C minor scale  in both its melodic and harmonic forms would  be excellent preparation for playing this movement.

In the sheet music score the ornaments are both indicated and sound in the realisation.

Accompaniments are in place allowing string  players to participate in play-a-long ensemble activities as part of music practice routines. The violin sounds on one side of the stereo channel and the cello  on the other. The accompaniment tracks play back at 48, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60 & 62 quarter note (crotchet) beats per minute. There is a two bar count in /click track at the beginning of the accompaniment tracks.  They are available with and without ornaments in place 

In the keyboard video score, which string players may wish to refer to on the PlentyMusic YouTube channel ornaments have been written out as they sound in the realisation representing exactly what is being played. 

Understand that ornaments can be interpreted differently and that performance practice is both evolving  and often reviewed. 

How ornaments are played at cadences in particular is a fascinating subject in the baroque era. The combination of  structure improvisation 

The best advice is to listen to the performances and learn to discriminate as a performer between good practice and that which is plainly inappropriate and bluntly bad practice.

The Bach Inventions are generally considered to be intermediate level movements when played on a keyboard instrument. 

The principle behind J. S. Bach’s two part inventions is to take a musical idea or motive and then process it following the rules of good contrapuntal writing using the compositional processes of the baroque and at the same time referencing the closely related keys in the key system established in Bach’s own time. Inversion, repetition, sequence, transposition, rhythmic augmentation & diminution and other processes are evident in Bach’s inventions as in most other music of the baroque period.

J. S. Bach composed 15 Inventions in a collection dating from 1723 intended to introduce keyboard players to composition techniques of the baroque. They are excellent ensemble movements. 

PlentyMusic pdf sheet music scores and mp3 accompaniments can be downloaded from the PlentyMusic website. Improve music practice routines with PlentyMusic accompaniments and technical drills. Beginner, improver, intermediate and advanced level sheet music scores are available for many different musical instrument combinations. Music scores are written and presented in staff notation. Free scores are also available as pdf sheet music downloads. A wide range of different musical performing styles are represented on the PlentyMusic website from early times through to classical and popular. Explore PlentyMusic a new and innovative sheet music publisher.