What is the difference between a fugue and an invention?

Inventions are similar in style to a fugue, though they are much simpler. They consist of a short exposition, a longer development, and, sometimes, a short recapitulation. The key difference is that inventions do not generally contain an answer to the subject in the dominant key, whereas the fugue does.

Can a fugue have 2 voices?

Fugues in two voices are rare, and in Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier there is only one, No. The opening “Kyrie” of Bach’s Mass in B Minor, BWV 232 (1747–49), is a five-part fugue; the first “Credo” is a seven-part fugue over a free bass, an example of particularly complex yet clear counterpoint.

What are the different types of fugue?

• 3.1 Simple fugue.
• 3.2 Double (triple, quadruple) fugue.
• 3.3 Counter-fugue.
• 3.4 Permutation fugue.
• 3.5 Fughetta.

What is a 2 Part invention?

In a two-part invention, the first voice plays the main theme while the other accompanies in free counterpoint. The voices then switch, with the second voice playing the main theme and the first providing counterpoint. Inventions can also have countersubjects that accompany the main subject of the piece.

What is a two-part invention Bach?

The Bach Two-Part Inventions were composed as teaching pieces and appear in ascending order by pitch, starting with C and using only those Major and minor keys with no more than four sharps or flats. All Inventions, clearly engraved on two pages with no page turns, include editorial markings and suggested tempi.

What fugue has the most voices?

That 7-voiced Credo fugue in the BMM (BWV 232) is the biggest complete, strict Bach fugue I can think of at the moment (7 strictly fugal parts, equally melodic and sharing musical material all the way through…plus a free bass).

How do you write a two part fugue?

How To Write A Fugue

1. The exposition begins the fugue and a single voice plays the subject establishing the tonic key.
2. The middle section consists of entries of subject and answer in keys other than the tonic separated by episodes.
3. The final section begins where the subject or answer returns in the tonic key.

What are three-part inventions?

The Inventions and Sinfonias, BWV 772–801, also known as the Two- and Three-Part Inventions, are a collection of thirty short keyboard compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750): 15 inventions, which are two-part contrapuntal pieces, and 15 sinfonias, which are three-part contrapuntal pieces.

What are inventions Bach?

As far as Bach was concerned, an invention is a short exercise written for private practice by keyboard students – which has a two-part counterpoint. Compositions in the same style as an invention but using three-part counterpoint are known as sinfonias.