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Invention No. 6 in E major, BWV 777

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) · sheet music

  • Key E major
  • Time 3/8
  • Levels 10
  • Passages 8

Your turn · both hands

 

 

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Johann Sebastian Bach, German baroque (1685–1750). The reading release has 8 passages from this piece at level 10; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 5–8 for both hands together.

Practice the hard bars →

The hardest stretch is bars 5–8 at level 10.

Your practice path

Learn it the way teachers do: each hand on its own, then together, then the hard bars. Each step is a real graded passage of Invention No. 6 in E major, BWV 777.

  1. Hands together · bars 5–8 level 10

How to play Invention No. 6 in E major, BWV 777

  1. Tempo:Bach gives no tempo mark. PTNA lists a playing time of about a minute and a half, which suggests a light, moving pulse felt as one swing per 3/8 bar.
  2. Right hand:The right hand often enters after a short rest, so the first note lands off the beat. Practice with a silent count of the rest, then tap the entry on the clock.
  3. Left hand:The left hand climbs scale steps in steady eighths under the falling right hand. Play it alone in four sharps until the black keys feel automatic.
  4. Hands together:The hands trade notes from the very first bar, so play one voice noticeably softer than the other to keep the two lines distinct, as a PTNA commentator advises; switch which hand leads each time you practice.
  5. Rhythm:Figures that mix sixteenths with pairs of thirty-second notes recur throughout; one PTNA commentator suggests detaching the sixteenths and slurring each thirty-second pair. Count them aloud until the pairs sound even and unhurried.
  6. Fingering:Plan fingerings for the black-key stretches of four sharps in advance, and keep them the same every time; the sequences repeat, so one solved spot unlocks the next.
  7. Dynamics:Keep the overall level moderate, let the volume grow from the middle section, and save the peak for the Neapolitan chord that one PTNA commentator singles out as the point of greatest tension.
  8. Practice:Work in the developing section on its own, a few sequences at a time, and write in every accidental. Then join it to the return.

Common mistakes

  • Rushing the pairs of thirty-second notes after the detached sixteenths. Fix: Subdivide aloud in thirty-seconds at half speed until both note lengths feel distinct.
  • Playing both voices at the same volume, which blurs the syncopated exchange. Fix: Rehearse with one hand marked piano and the other mezzo piano, then swap.
  • Missing sharps and naturals in the middle section, especially notes like B sharp. Fix: Circle every accidental in the score and play that section slowly in separate hands first.
  • Letting the line break at a wide left-hand leap. Fix: Look at the landing note before you move; a PTNA commentator notes that a brief touch of pedal can bridge the widest left-hand leaps.

Structure: two-part form with a return of the opening (A–B–A')

The first section carries the opening idea from E major to the dominant, B major. A middle section develops the same motifs through a chain of sequences, and the opening then comes back in the home key. The repeat sign mid-piece makes it the odd one out among the inventions.

A · Opening statement (E major, moving to B major)
The syncopated idea appears in one voice and answers in the other, with the hands taking turns. You read steady rising eighths against a falling chromatic line.
B · Development
Sequences move through new harmonies toward a Neapolitan sixth chord, which a PTNA commentator hears as the point of highest tension. Accidentals multiply here, so this is where reading slows down.
A' · Return (E major)
The opening idea returns in the tonic and settles into the home key. You can lean on what you already know from the start of the piece.

About Invention No. 6 in E major, BWV 777

Bach gathered his fifteen two-part inventions at Köthen. Early versions turned up as short preludes and fantasias in a notebook he kept for his eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann, and the dated fair copy of 1723 recast them as lessons for any student of the keyboard.

Number 6 is built from one rhythmic idea. Yusuke Takamatsu, writing in the PTNA Piano Music Encyclopedia, names the syncopation in both voices as its invention: at the start one line climbs by step while the other slips down chromatically, half a beat apart, and the four-bar subject is then repeated with the voices exchanged.

Like the rest of the set, it stayed in manuscript circulation for decades. IMSLP dates the first print to 1801, in a volume called 15 Inventions, where this piece appears as the sixth.

  • According to the PTNA Piano Music Encyclopedia, it is the only one of the inventions with a repeat sign inside the movement.
  • Bach arranged the two-part inventions in rising order of key, working through eight major keys and seven minor ones, and E major lands in sixth place.
  • Bach's title page says the set should teach learners to play two voices cleanly, to develop good ideas, and to play in a singing manner.
  • PTNA commentator Takashi Hayashikawa analyzes it as a miniature sonata form, with a development built from the opening syncopated motif.

Why the first passage is level 10

That passage is level 10 rather than 9 because it moves in 32nd notes, it runs fast figuration.

Expect four sharps throughout, quick thirty-second-note turns, a few ledger lines, and extra accidentals once the middle section modulates. Every passage here sits at the top difficulty level.

Questions about Invention No. 6 in E major, BWV 777

How hard is Invention No. 6 in E major, BWV 777 to play?
Its passages grade from level 10 on Real Sight Reader's ten-level reading scale, so the full piece is intermediate to advanced reading. The hardest stretch is bars 5–8 at level 10.
Is there an easy part of Invention No. 6 in E major, BWV 777 for beginners?
Its easiest passage is level 10, so it suits a reader past the beginner stage. Start with bars 5–8 for both hands together, the level-10 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 10 because it moves in 32nd notes and it runs fast figuration.
What key and time signature is Invention No. 6 in E major, BWV 777 in?
Invention No. 6 in E major, BWV 777 is in E major, 4 sharps. The engraving on this page is in 3/8 time.
Who composed Invention No. 6 in E major, BWV 777?
Johann Sebastian Bach, German baroque (1685–1750). Bach gathered his fifteen two-part inventions at Köthen.
Can I practice Invention No. 6 in E major, BWV 777 online for free?
Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the 8 graded passages from Invention No. 6 in E major, BWV 777 in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
How long is Bach's Invention No. 6?
The PTNA Piano Music Encyclopedia lists about a minute and a half; your time depends on tempo and on whether you take the repeats.
Why did Bach write the inventions?
His title page presents them as lessons for learners: first to play two voices cleanly, then three, to find good ideas and develop them, and to play in a singing style.
What is the difference between an invention and a sinfonia?
The inventions are two-voice contrapuntal pieces and the sinfonias are three-voice pieces, and Bach gathered both sets in one collection.

Every passage, easiest first

The reading release grades 8 distinct passages of this piece. Open any of them in the reader:

Level 10
bars 5–8 both hands · bars 9–16 both hands · bars 19–24 both hands · bars 21–24 both hands · bars 45–48 both hands · bars 53–56 both hands · bars 62–69 both hands · bars 109–112 both hands

More pieces to sight-read

Score: public-domain engraving from the corpus (pdmx), graded by the piano-reading-v2-20261023-identity-audit reading release.

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