Two-Part Invention No. 1 in C major (BWV 772)

Johann Sebastian Bach · Level 4 (Intermediate) · Baroque · Piano

One of the fifteen Two-Part Inventions BWV 772–786 (1723), written to teach “playing cleanly in two parts” and developing a musical idea. C major, 4/4, 22 bars (about one minute), complete score.

▶ Play this piece with the interactive score

How to practise it

• Listen first: the site plays it while the score scrolls.
• Wait mode: the score waits for you at every note, at your own pace.
• Tempo challenge: play in time, with a score and a map of the bars you got right.
• Find the main motif and follow it from hand to hand; every entry of the theme should be heard clearly. For chords, shape the hand in the air before landing, all notes together. Start hands separately in Wait mode, then put hands together at a slow tempo before speeding up gradually.

More pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach

• Partita 4 (BWV 828) — movement 6
• Aus meines Herzens Grunde (Chorale 1) (BWV 269)
• Prelude No. 1 in C major, Well-Tempered Clavier I (BWV 846)
• Two-Part Invention No. 13 in A minor (BWV 784)
• Two-Part Invention No. 8 in F major (BWV 779)
• Little Prelude in F major (BWV 928)
• Two-Part Invention No. 4 in D minor (BWV 775)
• Little Prelude in D minor (BWV 926)

Source : Mutopia Project · CC BY-SA 3.0