FACTOID # 12: Americans and Icelanders go to the cinema 5 times a year, on average. The average Japanese person goes only once.
 
 Home   Encyclopedia   Statistics   Countries A-Z   Flags   Maps   Education   Forum   FAQ   About 
 
WHAT'S NEW
RECENT ARTICLES
More Recent Articles »
 

Encyclopedia > Invention (music)

In music, an invention is a short composition (usually for a keyboard instrument) with two-part counterpoint. (Compositions in the same style as an invention but using three-part counterpoint are known as sinfonias. Some modern publishers are erroneously calling them "three-part inventions" to avoid confusion with symphonies.) The most famous are the fifteen inventions comprising the first half of Johann Sebastian Bach's Inventions and Sinfonias. Inventions are usually not performed in public, but serve as exercises for keyboard students, and as pedagogical exercises for composition students. Music is a human activity which involves structured and audible sounds, which is used for artistic or aesthetic, entertainment, or ceremonial purposes. ... Musical composition is: an original piece of music the structure of a musical piece the process of creating a new piece of music // A musical composition A piece of music exists in the form of a written composition in musical notation or as a single acoustic event (a live performance... Piano, a well-known instance of keyboard instruments A keyboard instrument is any musical instrument played using a musical keyboard. ... Counterpoint is a musical technique involving the simultaneous sounding of separate musical lines. ... In music, a sinfonia can be one of three things: 1) In the very late Renaissance and early Baroque, a sinfonia was an alternate name for a canzona, fantasia or ricercar. ... A symphony is an extended piece of music usually for orchestra and usually comprised of several movements. ... Bach redirects here. ... Johann Sebastian Bachs Inventions and Sinfonias (BWV 772-786) is a collection of thirty short keyboard compositions, consisting of fifteen inventions and fifteen sinfonias. ...

Contents


Form

Inventions are similar in style to a fugue, though they are much simpler. They consist of a short exposition, a longer development, and a short recapitulation (if there is one at all). The key difference is that inventions do not contain an answer to the subject in the dominant key, where the fugue does. In music, a fugue is a type of piece written for counterpoint for several independent musical voices. ... An exposition may be one of the following: In music an exposition is the first of the sections in sonata allegro form. ... Musical development is the transformation and restatement of initial material, often contrasted with musical variation, with which it may be difficult to distinguish as a general process. ... Recapitulation is the term used by Irenaeus to describe the manner in which God interacts with the world towards the final goal in space and time of mans salvation and redemption. ...


Exposition

In the exposition, a short motif is introduced by one voice in the tonic key. This is called the theme. The subject is then repeated in the second voice in the dominant key while the initial voice either plays a countersubject or plays in free counterpoint. In music, a motif is a perceivable or salient reoccurring fragment or succession of notes that may used to construct the entirety or parts of complete melodies, themes. ... The tonic is the first note of a musical scale, and in the tonal method of music composition it is extremely important. ... In music, the dominant is the fifth degree of the scale. ... In music, a countersubject is a melodic or thematic idea which is played against a primary subject of a fugue, ricercar, invention, sinfonia, or other contrapuntal piece of music. ... Counterpoint is a musical technique involving the simultaneous sounding of separate musical lines. ...


Development

The development comprises the bulk of the piece. Here the composer usually writes in free counterpoint and develops the subject by writing variations either melodically or harmonically. In music, variation is a formal technique where material is altered during repetition; reiteration with changes. ... Look up Melody in Wiktionary, the free dictionary In music, a melody is a series of linear events or a succession, not a simultaneity as in a chord. ... This article is about musical harmony. ...


Some melodic variations consist of:

  • Augmentation - Playing the subject at a longer time value.
  • Diminution - Playing the subject at a shorter time value.
  • Inversion - Playing a melody upside-down.
  • Retrograde - Playing a melody backwards.

The development of an invention differs from that of a fugue in that a fugal development contains episodes (variations based more strictly on the theme) whereas the invention is more free-form. In music and music theory augmentation is the lengthening or widening of rhythms, melodies, intervals, chords. ... Diminution, from Italian diminuimento, is a musical term used to mean different things in the context of melodies and intervals or chords. ... In music theory, the word inversion has several meanings. ...


Recapitulation

If an invention does have any recapitulation at all, it tends to be extremely short - sometimes only two or four measures. The composer repeats the theme in the upper voice and the piece ends. The repetition of the theme contains very little variation (or no variation at all) on the original theme. The lower line usually plays the countersubject, and if there is no countersubject, plays in free counterpoint.


History

The invention is primarily a work of Johann Sebastian Bach. Inventions originated from contrapuntal improvisations in Italy, especially from the form of the composer Francesco Antonio Bonporti. Bach adapted and modified the form to what is considered to be a formal invention. Bach wrote 15 inventions as exercises for his son, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach. These are the most well-known of all inventions. Bach later wrote another set of 15 sinfonias (three-part inventions). Bach redirects here. ... Improvisation is the act of making something up as it is performed. ... Francesco Antonio Bonporti (1672 - 1748) - Italian priest and amateur composer. ... Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, in a portrait by Wilhelm Weitsch Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (November 22, 1710 – July 1, 1784) was the eldest, and by common repute the most gifted son, of Johann Sebastian Bach; a famous organist, a famous improvisor, and a complete master of counterpoint. ... In music, a sinfonia can be one of three things: 1) In the very late Renaissance and early Baroque, a sinfonia was an alternate name for a canzona, fantasia or ricercar. ...


External links


  Results from FactBites:
 
Invention - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (791 words)
An invention may sometimes be based on earlier breakthroughs, collaborations or ideas, and the process of invention requires at least the awareness that an existing concept or method can be modified or transformed into a new invention.
One school of thought, popularized in the phrase "necessity is the mother of invention", argues that in essence, lack of resources leads to invention, while the opposing school of thought argues that it is only an excess of resources which has this result.
While an invention is merely theoretical (even though the legal protection of a patent may have been sought), an innovation is an invention that has been put into practice.
  More results at FactBites »

 

COMMENTARY     


Share your thoughts, questions and commentary here
Your name
Your location
Your comments
Please enter the 5-letter protection code


Lesson Plans | Student Area | Student FAQ | Reviews | Press Releases |  Feeds | Contact
The Wikipedia article included on this page is licensed under the GFDL.
Images may be subject to relevant owners' copyright.
All other elements are (c) copyright NationMaster.com 2003-5. All Rights Reserved.
Usage implies agreement with terms.