J.S.Bach’s Invention No. 1 BWV 772 is an intermediate level movement can be played on a range of keyboard instruments and by a number of instrument combinations. In this arrangement for violin & cello accompaniments are in place enabling violinists and cellists to enjoy ensemble practice as part of their music practice routines. They play at 56, 58, 60, 62 and 64 beats per minute (bpm). The violin sounds on one side of the stereo channel whilst the cello sounds on the other channel. J. S. Bach composed 15 Inventions in a collection dating from 1723 intended to introduce and inform musicians of the composition techniques of the baroque. They are excellent pieces for developing a sound and secure technique. The playback tempo of the realisation is 60 beats per minute (bpm) and the music editor suggests omitting the ornaments when learning the piece. For those wishing clarification on how the ornaments are to be played refer to the piano version video score on the PlentyMusic YouTube channel. In this video score the ornaments have been written out in full to clarify how they should be played. The music score is available as a pdf download from the PlentyMusic website whilst the accompaniments can be downloaded as mp3 files. Composed in the key of C the key journey is confined to the closely related keys of the dominant (bar 7), relative minor (bar 15) and sub-dominant (bar 20). Keys, understand, are not always established as such but are described as passing modulations in the baroque era. A key or change of key is generally thought of being established when there is a cadence which tends to be more the case in music from the classical era. Tempo is one of the most challenging questions when playing the Bach’s 15 Two part inventions. The music editor suggests that there is often a tendency to play these movements too quickly. The opening motif or melodic idea is quite short in this work whilst musical ideas are repeated and imitated by the two voices. The inversion of musical ideas is a particularly strong feature in this invention. The use of sequence is another compositional process readily identifiable.
