invention
A short contrapuntal composition for keyboard in two voices, designed as a study in polyphonic technique
In Depth
Bach's 15 Two-Part Inventions (BWV 772–786) are the definitive examples of the genre. Each presents a short musical idea (the subject) and develops it through imitation, inversion, sequence, and modulation in two independent voices. Bach described them as models for developing a cantabile style of playing and an introduction to composition. Despite their pedagogical purpose, the Inventions are musically satisfying works that remain central to the piano curriculum three centuries later.
Bach originally titled these pieces Praeambula before settling on Inventiones — a term borrowed from classical rhetoric meaning the discovery of an argument.