Many of Bach's works, including the Inventions and Sinfonias, follow rhetorical principles, incorporating elements like an introduction (Exordium), statement of facts (Narratio), and conclusion (Peroratio).
Performer Biography
Pianist Vladimir Feltsman was banned from public performance and had his recordings suppressed by the Soviet regime for eight years after applying for an exit visa in 1979.
Composition History
Bach's 15 two-part Inventions and 15 three-part Sinfonias were originally compiled in 1720 for his nine-year-old son, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, as a collection of 62 short keyboard works.
Compositional Technique
Bach's Duets, particularly the Second Duet in F major, were considered shocking and radical in his time, bordering on blasphemy due to their uncompromising canon and bizarre dissonances.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Bach intended the Inventions and Sinfonias to teach keyboard amateurs to play cleanly in two and three voices, achieve a cantabile manner of playing, and gain a foretaste of composition.
Composer Biography
Bach taught Latin and rhetoric at the Thomaskirche school, indicating his familiarity with classical oratory texts like Cicero's De Inventione and Quintilian's Institutio Oratoria.
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