Invention No. 13 in A minor, BWV 784
Bach's Invention No. 13 in A minor, BWV 784, is an early-intermediate piece in 4/4, Octotune grade 5 of 8. A figure of broken chords in sixteenths passes back and forth between the hands, each answering in eighths while the other runs.
At a glance
| Composer | Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | Intermediate: grade 5 of 8 |
| Key | Key signature: no sharps or flats |
| Time | 4/4 |
| Tempo | 100 quarter-note beats a minute, as the app starts it (it can go slower) |
| Length | 25 measures, about 1:00 |
| Hands | both hands |
| Right hand | F♯3 to C6 |
| Left hand | D2 to A4 |
It reaches past the staff: see ledger lines explained.
Levels in the app
| Version | Grade | Levels |
|---|---|---|
| Invention No. 13 in A minor, BWV 784 | 5 of 8 | Melody, Melody and bass, Full |
Practice notes
Bach's fifteen Inventions are two-part teaching pieces, collected in a fair copy of 1723. Each grows from one short idea. No. 13, in A minor, is one of the best known after No. 1: restless, flowing and dark.
How it is built. After a short rest, the right hand plays the idea: a broken chord in sixteenth notes that climbs and turns back, E A C B, E B D C. Then it settles into eighths, and the left hand takes up the same figure below. The two hands trade: while one runs in sixteenths, the other walks in eighths. The music travels through several keys before coming home to A minor.
The tricky parts
- Reading broken chords. Read each group of four as a chord shape, with one note turning back.
- Accidentals. G sharp, A minor's leading note, is everywhere, and F sharp, D sharp and others come as the music changes key.
- Evenness. The sixteenths flow without bumps where the hand moves to a new position.
- Handing over. When the figure passes to the other hand, the line should sound unbroken.
Practice plan
- Find the figure each time it appears, in either hand. Mark it.
- Hands separately in Wait for me, slowly, with a fixed fingering.
- Hands together at 50% speed with Loop this measure, two measures at a time, then join them.
Start with: Invention No. 1, in C major, if you haven't played it.
Before you start: Octotune's path through Unit 10. The accidentals of A minor and its neighbors go beyond it.
Questions
Is Bach's Invention No. 13 hard?
It is early intermediate, Octotune grade 5 of 8, like Invention No. 1. The hands trade a sixteenth-note broken-chord figure, and A minor brings many accidentals; the challenge is evenness and reading.
Credits and license
- Music: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
- Typeset by Allen Garvin for the Mutopia Project
- License: Public Domain
- Source and printable sheet music: the Mutopia Project’s page for this piece