J. S. Bach’s Invention 15 BWV 786 in B minor is a deliberate and purposeful movement possessing a haunting quality whilst allowing keyboard players to explore keyboard touches where notes are articulated staccato and/or staccatissimo. The realisation plays back at 72 quarter note or crotchet beats to the minute. A movement that needs to be played with intention, consistency and purposefulness During practice routines keyboard players can vary their playing approach to encompass the different piano articulations that can be used playing the movement. The PlentyMusic principle when it comes to adding ornaments to music scores is to follow and more or less and imitate current modern performance practice. Ornaments are applied consistently although there is scope for players to make some additions particularly at important cadence points in movements where the option of more notes in the cadential trills can be explored. In the video score, which keyboard players may wish to refer to on the PlentyMusic YouTube channel ornaments have been written out as they sound in the realisation to represent exactly what is being played. The Bach Inventions are generally 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 journey. Inversion, repetition, sequence, transposition, rhythmic augmentation/diminution amongst processes are evident in Bach’s inventions as 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 pieces for developing a sound and secure keyboard technique. There is opportunity to distribute the weight between the hands to give prominence to the entries of thematic material. Pianists will find it rewarding to listen to performances of this invention on streaming platforms particularly on the piano to get a sense of how important an aspect of piano playing this is. A plain score is attached to the edited music score.
