J.S.Bach - Two-Part Inventions.pdf

JOHANN Str,BASTIAN BACH

15 WO-PARTINVtr,NTIONS

B\[^V 772-786

for Keyboard

Freely Transcribed for Guitar byRICHARD Ii, SAYAGE,

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Johann Sebastian Bach, 1,746,portrait b,v EJias Gi.ittlieb Haussmann

Table of Contents

Johann Sebastian BachThe Complete Two Part Keyboard InventionsFreely Transcribed for Solo Classical Guitar

Illustration: Bach, 1746,portrerrt by Elias Gottiieb HaussmannDiscussion regatding Bach & the Musical Im'entionNotes on Tempo, Performance & TranscriptionNotes on Ornamentation

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Two Part Keyboard Inventions (1723-1725; Bach B$f/V 772-786)

Invention 1, C Major,BWY 172Invention 2, B Minor, BWV 773,Invention 3, D Major,BWY 714Invention 4, D Minor, BWV 775

Invention 5, D Major, BWV 776,

Invention 6, G Major. BWY 771 ,

Inverrtion 7, E Minor, BWV 778Invention 8, Cl Major, BWV 779,Invention 9, E Minor, BWV 780,Invention 10, G Major, BWV 781

Invention 11, A Minor, BWV 782,Invention 12" A Major, BWV 783Invention 13, A Minor, BWV 784Invention 14, C Major, BWV 785,Invention 15, B Minor, BWV 786,

(original in C Minor)

(original

(originalin Eb Major)in E Major)

2

4

6

8

10

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16

18

2022

24

26

28

30

(original in F Major)(original in F Minor)

(original in G Minor)

(original in Bh Major)(original in Bb Minor)

Illustration: Bach and his sons, brief musical history (the portrait's authenticity and origin are indispute)

i

Discussion Regarding Bach and the Musical Invention

The Invention,.as a musical form, though widely associated with Johann Sebastian Bach, ispreviously discovered within the work of some of his contemporaries, including Johann Pachelbel(1653-1706), and Antonio Vivaldi (1678*1141) among others. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach laterrelayed these facts in the published obituary of his father.

History and supportive documentation has shown that Bach intended the earliest Inventions aspart of atotal work of exercises for one of his sons, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, in the year 1720,hisson being just over the age of 9 years old. This total collection encompassed 62 pieces, which, amongothers, contained 11 of the original Preludes from the later known, Well Tempered Clavier I, as well asthe Three Part Sinfonia, originally titled, "fantasias", along with pieces written by Telemann (1681-1767) and a partita by George Stolzel (1690-1749). Bach's instructive technique, historicallyconsidered thoughtful and well organized, displays equally impressive dedication to the musicaleducation of his children.

The original fifteen Inventions, originally titled Preambles ('praeamblae'), are found halfwaythrough the overall collection, indicative of their relative difficulty, as Bach prescribed an orderlymethod to his instruction. The overall collection itself contains a wealth of information and isevidentiary to the following discussion. Open to historical debate is Bach's real intention with regardto the instruction provided Wilhelm, among other sons and students, namely performance technique orcompositional skill. What is clear about Bach, as gathered from myriad written communication, is thatthey were of equal impoftance. Certainly, Bach intended strong finger technique to transform into aclearer understanding of the music, its implied message, and the ability of the student to express itsatisfactorily. Conversely, the student would attain gradual improvement and enhanced compositionalability by the gathering of ideas, thus, the word "invention", as Bach later renamed the collection. Thedevelopment of the "idea" would occur via myriad contrapuntal and other musical technique as

demonstrated in the book itself. Bach was firm in his conviction that orice the student had a firm graspof two-part writing that the natural progression to three parts was inevitable. Thus, implying moreweight to one is contrary to Bach's own well-rounded expectations of his students.

The clearest message of the Inventions is that there is no single form ascribed, though thecollection of Three Part Sinfonia is decidedly fugal in nature. For the most part, analysis of the formbelies their structurally miniature resemblance to larger works, namely: original motive, developmentof such motif and coda. There are exceptions as can be found in Invention#2,9 and 13, which arerooted in canonic form, among others. Furlher analysis of the Inventions displays Bach's employmentof myriad contrapuntal techniques and manipulation of motive within the array of pieces. Examples ofdouble counterpoint, fugue, canon, sonata, as well as repetition and inversion are evident.

The larger point is that Bach was not fixated upon any one methodology when it came to theInventions, instinctively allowing the musical idea to dictate its own course and development,logically, yet with incredible depth and beauty. A daunting prospect for any aspiring btudent to perusethe master's work and wonder, as Mozart did, how is it possible that anyone else could ever write atthis level. Forfunately, for all of us, the message behind Bach's instruction remains as enduring as thehaunting lyricism of the music itself.

Richard F. Sayage

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ii

Note Regarding Tempo, Performance, and Transcription

The original Two Part Inventions, as written by Johann Sebastian Bach, were, as a rule,performed a bit faster than the tempos that may be available to classical guitarists through thiscollection of work. This, due in large part" to the guitarist's obvious difficulty in performing thetwo lines smoothly, yet at the appropriate tempo, as marked by the editors of the Bach-Gesellschaft archives, along with the excellent Czemy and the Landshoff keyboard editions asoffered by Editions Peters. Ultimately, the goal of the performer is to strengthen their abiiity toplay the pieees at or close to speed, accomplished first by committing the pieces to memory. Thesecond requirement must remain that the performer or student demonstrates overall technicalability and knowledge of the instrument, or a growth towards such. This may seem obvious, butI do not wish to convey false sentiment in describing these pieces. In general, they are not forthe faint of heart or ability. Obvious is that, even at a slower tempo, they sound and playwonderfully.

Please note that the top line, typically played by the right on the keyboard, is in fact,complete. There has been very little editing of the main thematic ideas as originally presented byJohann Sebastian Bach. At the very most, the octave of the original suffered the smallestalteration to accommodate the range of performance accommodated by the playing guitarist.Subsequently, the line always brought track to the original as quickly and, hopefully, as deftly aspossible. You will notice that some of the pieces play the melodic lines up on the standard D andA strings of the instrument, maintaining harmonic structure on the A and E string" This is not thenolln, where most classical guitar pieces are concerned, but there is precedence, found in moreadvanced performance works, such as Jerry Willard's transcriptions of Bach's Lute Suites.Regardless, they sound proper, somewhat unique and play very well as such.

The left hand, however, has undergone some larger transformation. The feasibility ofperformance remains the driving issue behind said editing. Where possible, supportive harmoniclines reporl zero to very little editing. lnstances of such found in lnvention 13, whichremarkably, rernained untouched, playing with such passion, among others throughout the book.Conversely, Invention 5 and 8, evidence larger alteration born of necessity, as described earlier.There is evidence of obvious comprornise in that octave manipulation must have occurred insome of the pieces. The range of the classical guitar, again, must dictate overall feasibility, asdoes the alteration of key for some of the pieces in the coilection.

One hand or the other may have undergone a slight alteration to accommodate the otherwhere the thematic or melodic line is prevalent, such taking obvious precedence. I assure youthat the editing was minimal, bom of absolute necessity as described earlier.

Enjoy this new music for the classical/baroque guitar. It is my hope that your: joumeytowards the mastery of these 15 pieces is exhilarating, fulfilling your aspirations of performance,allowing you more insight than aiready possessed as to the enduring music of the master ofcounterpoint and the knowledge of our most beautiful instrument.

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Notes Regarding Ornarnentation

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A usually hot topic amongst historians and performers, I have chosen to primarily avoidit by relaying Bach's own sentiment on interpretation of his omaments. The examples above aretaken directly from his manuscript as titled above, except for the appoggiatura and the trill withthe sharp (#) above it. These last two are accepted baroque nonns and should beg little, if any,argument. I have also chosen to limit the omamentation descriptors to those found within thisbook.

Accepted is that the baroque trill begins on the higher diatonic, keeping in line withtransitional key modulations. Tire key to any of the ornaments is that they finish as indicated bythe note written. Saying this, I must interject, at the risk of massive criticism, that the music andthe performer's intetpretation must finally dictate first, the choice to make use of the ornarnent,and secondly, the application of such as dictated by the music itself. This statement supported bythe fact that these alrangements are for the classical guitar, thus having zero precedence to guidethese specific pieces, though we may refer to numerous guitar interpretations as per myriad wellknown transcribers and performers of other Bach pieces. We also remain instructed by thewritten notes of, Bach and previous recordings of keyboard based performances, but should wediscriminately choose to make use of them, the above is only to serve as a guideline.

It gamers much debate. for instance, that the trill or any of its variants are performed aswritten above. Given that Bach himself wrote this instruction for his children, regarding theexplicit interpretation of his ornaments as it perlains to his music, I cannot fathom the basis ofthe argument, except to simply refer to rny previous statement of personal choice and taste.

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Transcribed by R.F. Sayag,3 J.S. Bach (1685-1750)

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Transcribed by Richard F. Sayage J.S. Bach (1685-1750)

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Johann Sebastian Bach was bom on March 21,7685, in the town of Eisenach, the seventh andyoungest child of Johann Ambrosius and Maria Elisabeth Bach. Born to a family name thatalready had become synonymous with "musician", Bach's future elite status as a musicalintellect or composer was neither foreseeable nor expected. As he matured, Bach's ability toadhere to his finely developed sense of structure coupled with the expansion of his own musicaland scientific development must rank high among the reasons for his list of achievements as

composer and musicologist, which may only briefly be summartzedby the following works:

o The Well Tempered Cl$viero Inventions, Sinfoma: Musical idea within Major and MinorTonality

t The Art of Fugue: Fugre and Canonic Strucfureo Brandenburg Concertos, Keyboard Concertos: Instrumentationt The Chromatic Fnntusy & Fugue: Hannonic Boundary Expansiono Chorales, Cuntutas und Arius: Vocal and Instrumentationo Works for Unaccompunied Cello, Flute, Violin: Polyphonic Extension

Two works, widely circulated after Bach's death in 1750, laid the eventual foundation for tonalharmony: The Well Tempered Clavier and the coilection of four-part Chorales. His methods andprinciples of harrnony, thorough bass, and counterpoint, all cohesively combined, irrevocablychanged the face of European music theory.

Richard F. Sayage - Savage Classical GT November,zD0{Bach and his sons, (dre potrait's authenticity and origin are in dispute)

Nchard F. Sayge - Biographl

Richard F. Sayage was born in 1961in the great town of Brooklyn, NY Surrounded by classical and MiddleEastern music throughout his life, it was no smail wonder that after receiving a degree in Business, he sought anotherdegree in Musicology, at the age of 21. \ilhile pursuing other multiple advanced degrees, including i.oro-i.r,Mathematics, and Business, he kept his focus on Music, havrng the good fortune to have met and studied numerousmusic theory disciplines with Sy Shaffer and Tibor Sedy. Sy authored many great advertising jingles and playedtrombone for The Arthur Godftey Show, The Ed Sullivan Show and The Garv Moore Show.

Richard's good fortune in music education continued when he moved to Stony Brook University to finish a Mastersin Classical Music, Composition, and Orchestration, with an instrumental specialty of Classical Guitar. In doing so,he met lutenist/guitarist Jerry $/illard, with whom he studied. Having thoroughly studied Mr. Willard's excellenttranscription of Bach's Lute Suites for Guitar, among other great collections, Richard's direction in music becameclearer; that is to sa)'', the transcription of unusual and heretofore unseen music for the Solo Classical Guitar. Sincethe eady 1980s, Richard has vigorously pursued this endeavor.

The beginnings of his body of work, based on the vast musical landscape knou,n as Johann Sebastian Bach arerepresented by this book of 15 T$ilO-PART INVENTIONS.

Richard lives on Long Island, New York with his wife Valerie and their trvo children, Dhiana and Samantha.

Works for Solo GuitarAguado, D. .......................Little Concert Pieces and Studies from 'M6todo de Guitarra'

Volume 1 ........................ EP 8550aVolume 2....................... EP 8550b

Andes, M........................... Suite Folklore ..... EP 8559Babbitt, M......................... Composition for Guitar (Sheer pluck) .......... EP 67028Carcassi, M ....................... 10 Pieces for Performance from Op. 59......... EP 8558

Dillon,J. ...... Shrouded Mirrors EP 7359Ferneyhough, B. ............... Kurze Schatten IL................. ..EP 7311

Grabowski, Z. .................3 Easy Solo Pieces (Etude; Bossa Nova; Folk Song)(incl. tabulatur) EP 8564a4 Shott Solo Pieces (modetately difficult) ....... EP 8799

Mamlok, U........................Five Intermezzi for Solo Guitar EP 67435Molinaro, S. ....................... Selected Saltarellos and Fantasias ................... EP 7337Paganini, N. ....................... Caprices, Op. 1 (tt. Norman)

Volume 1 ....................... EP 66772aVolume 2 EP 66772b

Riley, D. .......Improvisations ..Ep 67219Reynolds,R.......................The Behavior of Mirors ......8P 67096

Smith Brindle, R. ............. Variants on 2 Themes of J.S. Bach ............ EP 7131Sor, F.. .......... Fantasias (Bibetian)

Volume 1: Opp. 4,7,10, 12 ...................... EP 7338Volume 2: Opp. 16,21.,30,40..................... EP 7339Volume 3: Opp. 46, 52, 58,59 ...................... .............8P 7340

'Wallen, E. .......................... \Talking Me to Work............ i..................,.. ..EP 7728\Weiss,S.L...........................2 Sonatas and 1 Fantasia lSchindler) EP 8575

2 Suites: E minor, F major (tt. Biberian) .......8P 7336N(/uorinen, C...................... Guitar Variations EP 67613Zamboti, G. ..................... 11 Sonatas ftom Intavolatura di Leuto (art. Goritz) ............. ...... EP 8993

Solo Guitar Albums

First Solo Pieces by Composers of the 16th- to 18th-Centudes (I{appeter)Volume 1: 28 pieces by Carulli, Soq Aguado, Carcassi, et al.................. EP 8552aVolume 2: 23 pieces bv Dowland, Sanz, \X/eiss, Diabel[, et al. ................. EP 8552b

Songs of the Wotld ffappelet)Volume 1 ........................ EP 8556aVolume 2....................... EP 8556b

Guitar Studies

Carcassi, M........................25 Etudes Op. 60 @ook 1: Nos. 1 13) EP 8555aCarulli, F:............................. Guitar Tutor (with Songs & Recital Pieces German text) ................. F,P 2480a

Sor, F. ........... Progressive Srudies from Opp. 31, 35 & 60Volume 1: 14 Studies EP 8551aVolume 2: 12 Studies EP 8551b

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J.S.Bach - Two-Part Inventions.pdf

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