BWV 772 - 801: The 2 & 3 Part Inventions

[@ivancarlson953]

When biologist Lewis Thomas was asked what message he would choose to send into outer space in the Voyager spacecraft, he said: “I would send the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach … but that would be boasting.”

[@waterfale3356]

Haha I love this so much!! I agree though, his fugues could cause a universal war

[@johnervin8033]

@@waterfale3356 LOL IMPERIAL STORMTROOPERS in fits at the full barrage of anti-Nazi Art Spirit. Quick Victory! That reminds me of "Mars Attacks" where they cannily play Slim Whitman recordings to finally oust the Martians, only Bach fugues a big upgrade on repertoire. But a nod to the wit of Lewis Thomas, that is such a cool thing to say. I envy his opportunity to set the record straight for any extraterrestrial contact. He got the chance to brag for all of us.

[@HermannGermannIII]

😊 Too Kewl!!!!

[@MatematicaTel]

I did travel back in time, to a distant rainy morning in my childhood, listening my mother playing. Music is really wonderful. Thank you very much!!

[@catycat28meow]

They're also good excercises for me to conduct!

[@Tizohip]

Muito bom.

[@foolim1]

This is a inevitable and inportant textbook for piano learner.

[@666awf]

+foolim1 As well as any student of counterpoint!

[@gastonmazzei8087]

good point

[@gastonmazzei8087]

and good counterpoint hurr dah

[@rudigerk]

Right, and besides that technical Aspect Timeless Masterpieces of concentrated Musicianship. :)

[@psycxinyuan9777]

it's hard

[@PheresMusic]

That was an awesome piece. R.I.P. gerubach. Thank you for your contribution.

[@Elhombresombra]

Why did you write "R.I.P. gerubach"? What happened???

[@PheresMusic]

@@Elhombresombra He died to heart attack last year...

[@Elhombresombra]

@@PheresMusic Really?????

[@Elhombresombra]

@@PheresMusic The time and cause of his passing seem to suggest a very precise cause that we all have got to know even too well. Interesting enough, I cannot even write that word, because my reply gets deleted in no time (happened 5 times). I suppose that's "free ѕреeсһ".

[@PheresMusic]

@@Elhombresombra Unfortunately.

[@oderalon]

I'm currently learning Inventio 12 (a major), reading the score my impression was "maybe I'll skip this one, feels so empty, even silly"; then I come here to listen to it and 🤩 "this is gorgeous!"

[@BlossomedJewelsOfficial]

My exact thought 😮

[@hifman4581]

thank you gerubach for uploading and preserving this sublime music

[@franciszekleonarczyk5846]

Performer & Album Info -52:21​ 2 Part Inventions BWV 772: Invention 1: (C Major) 1:09​ BWV 773: Invention 2: (C minor) 2:43​ BWV 774: Invention 3: (D Major) 4:34​ BWV 775: Invention 4: (D minor) 5:56​ BWV 776: Invention 5: (Eb Major) 6:54​ BWV 777: Invention 6: (E Major) 8:33​ BWV 778: Invention 7: (E minor) 12:17​ BWV 779: Invention 8: (F Major) 13:51​ BWV 780: Invention 9: (F minor) 14:48​ BWV 781: Invention 10: (G Major) 16:31​ BWV 782: Invention 11: (G minor) 17:35​ BWV 783: Invention 12: (A Major) 18:47​ BWV 784: Invention 13: (A minor) 20:33​ BWV 785: Invention 14: (Bb Major) 21:45​ BWV 786: Invention 15: (B minor) 23:20​ 3 Part Inventions BWV 787: Sinfonia 1: (C Major) 24:45​ BWV 788: Sinfonia 2: (C minor) 26:01​ BWV 789: Sinfonia 3: (D Major) 28:15​ BWV 790: Sinfonia 4: (D minor) 29:50​ BWV 791: Sinfonia 5: (Eb Major) 31:41​ BWV 792: Sinfonia 6: (E Major) 33:49​ BWV 793: Sinfonia 7: (E minor) 35:04​ BWV 794: Sinfonia 8: (F Major) 37:25​ BWV 795: Sinfonia 9: (F minor) 38:37​ BWV 796: Sinfonia 10: (G Major) 41:47​ BWV 797: Sinfonia 11: (G minor) 42:58​ BWV 798: Sinfonia 12: (A Major) 45:16​ BWV 799: Sinfonia 13: (A Minor) 49:52​ BWV 800: Sinfonia 14: (Bb Major) 48:46​ BWV 801: Sinfonia 15: (B minor) 50:37 this is what the description should look like.

[@albertrombone]

best channel on youtube.

[@tizionid5402]

albertrombone e bravo albert

[@iugin74]

Mit Abstand...

[@charlesdavis7087]

Although I'd like to agree with you, why do you think that might be true? I once loved a trombone player... back in the 60. We were in the Navy at the School of Music in Norfolk, VA. He was my shining one. My friend, my dear and... almost my lover. Steven Berryman. My, great beautiful, shining one. I still love him after all these years... and yes, I want to know that he's well. May he have loved much... if not always wisely. And may he know love again. And may I know, I will find you again. And that day, my darling Steven, we will know love... truly has come full circle. Worlds come and go. Love lasts forever. Kisses and more. Let's talk. your Ch. A.T.O.M.

[@lastbornrelic3430]

But do u still remember it after 5 years?

[@TheScoubidouSmile]

Absolutely amazing!

[@MrDoyle-uq9tc]

Very nice sound and interpretation of Invention and Sinfonias. Many people don't understand the concept of Bach's music, but with your channel, the masterpiece has gotten easier to understand. Thank you, gerubach!

[@Zhaniararampianist]

Whenever I look for Bach's works, this channel is the best. the first unrivaled

[@jeanrepetto]

Thank you so much for this !! This is an invaluable resource for all people wishing to understand & utilize the language of music once it's written on the page. In my opinion, this approach to reading music is arguably the best teaching and learning tool out there ! It's the sophisticated version of "just follow the bouncing ball" Great work & God bless you

[@TheClassicalSauce]

Thanks for these. They really help composers see the structure behind the music.

[@gerubach]

+TheClassicalSauce You are welcome. I used to ignore most of the slower inventions as a listener but after working and viewing some like Sinfonia 9 (and especially Sinfonia 5) I have a better appreciation for them.

[@baseket2ball12]

Yeah, once you play through them you realize 6, 9, and 14 are just as beautiful as the others.

[@johnervin8033]

Really well done. Chapeau! to Kenneth Gilbert, a profound Bach performer.

[@johnervin8033]

The red line bar should be universal for scores like this, allowing those less fleet of foot sightreaders to follow the position precisely and easily. Really superb presentation, audio-visually!

[@redheadededjedi9519]

The very first one, in the introduction, no. 8, almost makes me cry every time I listen. So beautiful... so packed of beautiful melodies and voices. I could listen over and over again.... I love you J.S Bach!!! (all the others are beautiful too!!)

[@nghiavan8952]

I don’t hear the emotion in it

[@carlosmendez6729]

Thanks for this beautiful upload, the inventions are one of my favorite works. Following the score helps you understand the structure of this well crafted pieces.

[@bassoonist4884]

1:50 First Invention: Fugue subject of Toccata and Fugue in D Minor is quoted. Nice

[@canman5060]

The opening introduction is the invention no 8 already !

[@nazaracanreapit]

Did anyone notice "Inventio 5" is highlighted in grey? 6:54

[@MrDoyle-uq9tc]

I saw it

[@farrelpermadi5471]

Maybe because Bach don't know what to make for Eb, I mean if it was changed to Minor there were 6 flats, and maybe Bach don't know about that. But the very strange was the invention 14 that also don't have Minor key of Bb in the next Invention

[@margieeugenio5572]

I think Eb and Bb are relatives because E and B are the only notes go Half-step. Just saying.

[@BlossomedJewelsOfficial]

How am I just now noticing this after 2 years 😭😭

[@gabeatorres1051]

20:33 My favorite :D

[@engelbertschoormans]

I like how the counterpoint melody in the bass in 26:40 is exactly the same theme as the D minor Inventio (5:56) :-)

[@gregoryborton6598]

Cool catch, but I don't think it was intentional. It's just a very common figure in baroque music.

[@vincenzoruggiero4574]

Invention 6 in E is really sublime. Thank you so much, good job +gerubach!

[@ruperttmls7985]

Actually I hate that; I preffer number 12 and 13.

[@annsutton1327]

@@ruperttmls7985 I love it bad job

[@KDCobb]

Kenneth Gilbert's recording of Bach's inventions has become my "go to" recording. I intuitively measure all other recordings of the inventions against Gilbert's.

[@mogalelebethe6082]

29:26 This part sounds so tender to my ear

[@LordParsi]

Your work is amazing. Thank you so much! +gerubach

[@jasonyang28]

I love this. Listen to it every day.

[@ruperttmls7985]

Para aquellos que van a empezar a estudiarlas como ejercicio técnico, la invención 1 es la más fácil y la 12 es la más difícil de tocar.

[@LeVezz]

amazingly great content

[@simonpeberdy]

In case anyone's interested in music for 2 pianos... I've just completed writing arrangements of all of Bach's 2 part inventions. One piano part remains as Bach's original, whilst the other plays a new additional piano part. Available via my website: www.simonpeberdymusic.com

[@harrisonsteudlein8537]

Thanks! I love the way the music is presented!

[@hectorgraterol1969]

Wonderful!! Amazing thanks for sharing.

[@rnhtube]

There's something about the key of d minor and Bach writing total rippers in it all the time.

[@izanagi21ify]

I have observed that too, listening to most of his keyboard works.

[@johnervin8033]

The double violin concerto is in that key, and for 50 years I find it unmatched for the ultimately unfathomable and sublime. There may be other works that great, but none greater.

[@ReverendPop]

16:31 inventio 10 G major

[@谷口晴生-h4l]

The everlasting music.....so beautiful ~

[@zumbangboom]

I do like a lot this video. Greetings from Rome.

[@erickdanielperez9463]

Wonderful, it's very, very good work! Thank you.

[@ruperttmls7985]

Solo como acotación: las invenciones numero 1 y 4 fueron escritas probablemente por Wilhelm F. Bach bajo la supervisión de su padre; las invenciones 7, 8, 10, 13 y 15 se encuentran escritas completamente por la letra de WF Bach; finalmente todas las demás (incluyendo las sinfonías) fueron escritas completamente por J. S. Bach.

[@pc3088]

What a nice work of Bach's!

[@sailorvenus6505]

thank you so much for this

[@kelvinchan2286]

48:17 Soprano: The Art of Fugue (Actually the subject looks like it also)

[@bsku0765]

Yes

[@gastonmazzei8087]

FOR ALL THE PRECUMMERS OUT THERE: the one used for intro is the Invention 8! yrwlcm

[@eduardorabelo5642]

Thanks you so much!! Perfect to study

[@keyofw]

Sinfonia No. 9 always holds a special place in my heart

[@antoniobanonlucas5397]

Of course!!!! Yo la relaciono con Dante. La desolación de las horas... el tiempo arrastrándose. La espera y la soledad. Es totalmente moderna en su gestualidad.

[@johnervin8033]

This Sinfonia 9, such an unfathomable minor, is, to my ear, one of Bach's greatest masterpieces, perfect in every way. It is as mysterious and profound as can be. I remember when I first learned it 50 years ago, it was a moveable feast as a religious revelation, I could go as deep as I could with it and there were always greater depths to be found It would shake my soul, and always enrich whatever I brought to it. In a sense, it is a paradox of grief that only great music can really express. The paradox of immeasurable ontological grief, yet perfectly poised and contained, and finally an expression of joy, if only for the incalculable triumph of its expression (As Goethe wrote: "When man in his agony grows mute, [a] God gave me to utter what I suffer".) And in a real sense, so modern or contemporary in it's chromaticism, as Stravinsky said, enthralled by Beethoven's Große Fuge, "It is an absolutely contemporary work and shall remain contemporary forever!" In its containment, it opens like "a rose upon the rood of time" endlessly flowering sublimity. Glenn Gould recorded it in his last years as the largo that I hear, so slow, I hear a cello playing it as gravely as can be, his is 5 minutes long, just perfect when perfectly contained legato! Like the early saint described Jesus' demeanor, from accounts of first hand witnesses: "gravely joyful." Such a gift that ever keeps on giving. ~~~~ "Music is the only proof I need for the existence of God." ~Kurt Vonnegut .

[@Cayres18]

Best channel

[@IvanLiakh]

Superior! Bravo!

[@ILoveTakeThat5]

This brings back memories of the days when I learned these amazing Inventions! Thanks Gerubach :) Is it just me, or does the E flat 2-part Invention remind you of the C Major fugue from WTC Book 2?

[@franceskinskij]

I mean... the D minor one reminded me of the Allemande from 2nd violin partita

[@manojkrishna8839]

Only one word is enough to describe these pieces of music: "Awesome!" Thank you very much for posting this video! Have you posted any videos on the analysis of Bach's two part inventions? I'd like to know how these pieces of music were composed.

[@RosssRoyce]

Wonderful! Thanks so much!!

[@gerubach]

+hallobaaaby You are welcome. More to come!

[@TempodiPiano]

La huitième est si réjouissante. Le rythme de celle en sib irrésistible. La 14 est un rêve lointain, proche du conservatoire. Je méconnaissais l'attrait de l'invention en sol majeur --- à deux voix.

[@robbyburns5822]

ah, good to be on that good side of youtube again

[@jamesrockybullin5250]

Picking nits I know, but could you update the description to include the keys to make it slightly easier to navigate? Lovely presentation as always!

[@trashbagsmiley1999]

Inventio 6, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15 ❤ Sinfonia 2, 5, 15 ❤

[@RockStarOscarStern634]

Pipe Organ versions PLZ? You know that Organist who played the Bach Organ works on this Scrolling Channel? He should play Bach's Inventions & Sinfonais on Pipe Organ too.

[@juanjosemontblanch7118]

1, 4, 8, 13

[@ChernobieffPiano]

The performances are good, but it amazes me how professionals like George Malcolm were able to put much more human emotion and story into the same pieces.

[@nadiaguzman2242]

^^ Que genial!!!!!!

[@soundbytelex]

The invention 7 in e minor highly resemble the prelude in c-sharp of The Well-Tempered Clavier

[@soundbytelex]

+Sohrab Anwary book one

[@soundbytelex]

+Sohrab Anwary i do hahahahaha

[@soundbytelex]

+Sohrab Anwary niice!

[@soundbytelex]

+Sohrab Anwary you can't really go wrong with bach and beethov!

[@clivegoodman16]

I don't see the resemblance.

[@alexandergilson8046]

bravisimmo!

[@hililevin2950]

My favorites are Inventions no. 8 & no.13 :) Which are yours?

[@gerubach]

+Hili Levin I know it's hard to believe but Invention No.6 for it's clever syncopation tricks to the ear. Without the published music the listener gets confused to which part has the downbeat. And Sinfonia No.5 with a repetitive bass line that starts on an upbeat to support a cute dialog between the upper two voices with all of it's ornaments. It's what makes it so unique from the others!

[@Cayres18]

♥️♥️ thanks

[@GDDubya]

The first invention is my favorite.

[@Teemu_TV]

Usually the pieces are filled with ornaments but the 13th invention has none. I found that interesting.

[@cesarromero8357]

Excelente.

[@russedav5]

Solid gold & diamond.

[@OzanYarman]

Absolutely delectable!

[@Cellinator]

Terrific!

[@giulianoapostata]

Thanks !

[@gaudetjaja]

If I can play sonata facile in C by mozart (number 15/16), can I try to tackle one of these 2 part inventions?

[@arcturus4067]

@@Andras_Schiff agree with you. The inventions can look deceptively 'simple' until one attempts them! I really like all the inventions and sinfonias - very delightful to play them. Cheers!

[@IAmDylanPowers]

In the well tempered clavier book series, Bach used two books containing of 24 pieces for solo keyboard with all 12 major keys and all 12 minor keys. Not all of the keys he used in the well-tempered clavier made it into the inventions two or three part. These keys were never used that I might have to assume that they are not common. C-Sharp Major and Minor E-Flat/D-Sharp Minor F-Sharp Major and Minor A-Flat Major and Minor (Of course, G-Sharp Minor never made it.) B-Flat Minor B Major

[@pauledunn]

Bach used a temperament for these that was not suited for all keys, I've heard.

[@Baton793]

2:42 What? I know how the harpsichord muting system works, but this is weird.

[@carlosmendez6729]

+Baton793 He is probably playing on the upper keyboard which has a more delicate tone.

[@Baton793]

I meant the moment when you let go of the keys and then this weird sound happens.

[@carlosmendez6729]

+Baton793 thats the sound the jacks makes when you release the keys

[@Baton793]

C.J. Moran But why is it so loud ;_;

[@carlosmendez6729]

The mic must be really close. I actually like that sound.

[@jasonyang28]

Nice

[@Tizohip]

I'm waiting for this.. :D lol

[@erizano69]

Quien le dio mano abajo a esto no quiere a su mamá!!!

[@MrDBarch]

There is a mordent ornamentation played in bar 15 (im pretty sure it is 15, it may be 14). The ornament is applied to the note C5 in the treble clef; it's not notated in the music at all. yet the performer pays strict attention to the written dynamics throughout the whole piece accept for this particular note of C5 in the treble clef. Why is that? Is anyone able to tell me why? -curious composer d.barch......

[@pordzio]

Possibly simplest answer: The performer plays from a different score, than is displayed here. That editor might have put a mordent on that particular note (reason unknown - maybe they've seen something in the manuscript)

[@Jason-pt6mp]

It was common during the baroque for the performer to add ornaments on their own.

[@ashyourresidentenby5916]

22:27 it's a D, not an A

[@themobiusfunction]

I hear a D

[@searchingforlostatoms7191]

I've been searching!!....Harpsichord.....complete 2 and 3 pt...........bar on score keeps me tuned in.........I can't play or read music........this is perfect!! Why do you hear these miniature gems played on piano? It's blasphemy. You never hear Chopin on harpsichord. If you did the music world would start a war. Yet it's acceptable to play the inventions on piano. Period instrument, please. One last note, thank you Johann for giving the world yourself. R I P

[@johnervin8033]

Have you ever heard Beethoven played on his pianos? I was allowed to play his beloved 1820 Broadwood, and the sound was so incredibly deadened by that era's tech that I played the Bach Invention #8 that begins this collection (thankfully, without dropping any notes, as I had in my first childhood piano recital, blush...). Bach sounded good enough, but the piano had no resonance at all. None. "Period" LOL. Besides being deaf, Beethoven was so clearly extrapolating the advances that had been made in his lifetime on pianos, to those great future pianos to be made. Without a doubt that was in his vision for Sonata 32, not the threadbare, wooden acoustics of the 1820s! All this jive about period instruments. Surely Bach in the immensity of his imagination and soul would not freak at a Klemperer Brandenburg or MT Passion version, with the Philharmonia, but be deeply grateful and enthralled. For the MUSIC of them! (And we sang the Mass in B Minor under Dohnanyi the same style: "This will be old-fashioned Bach" he told us at our dress rehearsal.) So, pleeez! Enough already of all these period fetishes. They really start to cloy. Serious. They have their attraction, but they aren't of the essence musically, the spirit of the work IS: not really anyone can say even what combinations or sonorities exactly the composers would have chosen, it's all total overreaching guesswork foisted upon us as "the only 'correct' way". Scholarship as exalted gimmick. And it's that whole thing that really starts to weary.

[@m.t.asteriti9860]

Did Bach forget to write an invention in Eb minor?? Every single one of these major inventions has a parallel minor invention that comes after it except Eb... why is this?

[@josephlecher6814]

M. T. Asteriti it has to do with the “acceptable” temperament (tuning) of the keyboard instruments. Some key systems were too unstable. You can easily find more information.

[@gastonmazzei8087]

While only present two voices at the beggining of the Sinfonia 2 i wonder: why did'nt he deployed such creativity (i.e. "freeness" in both voices) in any of the two part inventions?

[@gastonmazzei8087]

should correct myself: inv 4 is exactly the place where that happens.

[@matt5474]

Invention 2 is a canon.

[@robertwalker2052]

Theyallareyoubozo

[@studentofcounterpoint]

could we download these videos ( BWV 772-801) + WTC 1&2 ? For personal use only.

[@christianindividual4550]

50:51 51:02

[@jasonhodgin1792]

The ending to Invention 11 sounds weird to me. It's almost as if the player forgot there was another note that needed to be played there.

[@familyman5013]

sinfonia 11 abrsm grade 8 2017 invention 13 abrsm grade 6 2019

[@metallurgy1746]

I think geru never do it... but I make a mistake.

[@jingwenlin4699]

Warum hat gar keine Artikulation gespielt

[@johannesgarff4820]

which one is it played in the intro of the video?

[@abada00zhanghongbing]

8:32

[@harryandruschak2843]

That long sentence at the start could use some better punctuation, perhaps being divided into two or three sentences. A semi-colon or two wouldn't hurt either. I also note that there are 15 of each type, not 24. Not the full range of keys, as in the two books of the WTC. Anybody know why? Perhaps Bach thought the fingerings in those keys might be too much too soon for the sons he was teaching?

[@gerubach]

+Harry Andruschak I am no Bach expert but from what I have read in Wolff's "Bach: The Learned Musician", there were two editions of the Inventions. The first being in a notebook for Bach's eldest son W.F. Bach of 1720 where the ordering of the keys were as follows: C - d - e - F - G - a - b - Bb - A - g - f - E - Eb - D - c [notice how they ascend to "b" and descend back down] and the second edition here in the video (from 1723). In his book, Wolff not only thinks that Bach kept the keys simple for beginners but also did it due to unequal temperament tuning. When the full 24-keys of the WTC was put into an entire collection, Bach was in the pursuit of a "Well-Tempered" system of tuning. (Remember, these are not my opinions but Wolff's).

[@harryandruschak2843]

gerubach Thank you

[@Baton793]

For every major tonation there is a minor one: C-->a, G-->d etc. There aren't some tonations, because the tempering didn't allow for them. Right? So if there are inventions f, A and E, why there aren't Ab, f# and c#? It keeps me wondering.

[@annsutton1327]

@@gerubachI love you

[@annsutton1327]

I've heard inventio 1 on my piano it demo plays it

[@Quim1441]

2:43

[@annsutton1327]

WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON IN SINFONIA 15 BRO

[@TheMadisonHang]

if i could even write one of these that would be my life time accomplishment bach wrote all of these, and then a thousand other pieces....HOW he must be gifted by God if not GOD himself! XD

[@riverstun]

Does number 9 bring all those who gush about God speaking through Bach to the fore?

[@blurrychaewonselca4360]

i scanned that qr code.

[@insearchofpeace2151]

I maybe completely wrong about this, but I feel like Bach could have written even more music if he had the piano. The Harpsichord is good, but it is inexpressive. But as we are talking about Bach, we see Bach extracting the best out of even the Harpsichord. I have tried loving the Harpsichord, but it sounds so ancient and is devoid of anything other than producing the correct pitch of a note when acted upon. I most probably would have abandoned the Harpsichord and focused only on the Church Organ as my preferred Keyboard Instrument.

[@vandalay1697]

Чтобы не обидеть Инару, которая плохо помнит собачий вальс, ютуб выкладывает бредятину пьяного грузчика, после тяжелого похмелья......

[@canman5060]

Who is the harpsichord player ?

[@korosilorinc6058]

Kenneth Gilbert

[@peterdilworth3110]

good

[@鄧麗嬌-c6l]

goooooooood

[@OonHan]

39:40 error should be Gb not G

[@OonHan]

lol 666 likes and 11 dislikes at this point of time