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Invention No. 8 in F Major, BWV 779

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) · sheet music

  • Key F major
  • Time 3/4
  • Levels 7–9
  • Passages 7

Your turn · both hands

 

 

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Johann Sebastian Bach, German baroque (1685–1750). The reading release has 7 passages from this piece at levels 7–9; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 9–12 for both hands together.

Practice the hard bars →

The hardest stretch is bars 25–28 at level 9.

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. 8 in F Major, BWV 779.

  1. Hands together · bars 9–16 level 7
  2. The hardest bars · bars 25–28 level 9

How to play Invention No. 8 in F Major, BWV 779

  1. Tempo:There is no tempo marking in the original, but the piece should feel energetic rather than slow. Settle on a speed where the sixteenth-note runs stay even in both hands, then raise it gradually.
  2. Right hand:The opening theme leaps up an F-major arpeggio in eighth notes before turning into a sixteenth-note run. Learn the leaps by shape so your hand lands on each note without looking down.
  3. Left hand:The left hand plays the same theme as the right, one bar later and an octave lower, so practice it alone with the same care and fingering logic.
  4. Hands together:Because the hands are offset by a bar, one hand is usually leaping while the other runs. Practice in two-bar chunks and listen for both lines at once.
  5. Fingering:Write fingering for the theme once and copy it to each later entry of the theme, adjusted for the other hand, so the repetitions reinforce each other.
  6. Rhythm:Count three beats to the bar and check that the entering hand starts exactly on its beat; the canon only works if the offset stays precise.
  7. Practice:Play one hand out loud and the other very softly, then switch, to train your ear to follow both voices.
  8. Dynamics:Shape the lines with articulation and small differences of weight rather than big crescendos, keeping the two voices balanced.

Common mistakes

  • Letting the right hand dominate while the left hand fades. Fix: Practice the left hand alone at full tone, then keep it at the same level when the hands are together.
  • Rushing the sixteenth-note runs and dragging the leaps. Fix: Use a metronome on the beat and practice the leap-to-run join slowly until the timing is even.
  • Missing accidentals as the middle section changes key. Fix: Circle each accidental before playing and practice that section hands separately first.
  • Losing track of which hand has the theme. Fix: Mark each entry of the theme in the score with a bracket so you can see the canon on the page.

Structure: two-part invention (three sections in canon and imitation)

The piece opens with a rising, fanfare-like arpeggio in the right hand that the left hand copies an octave lower one bar later, a strict canon that moves to C major. A freer middle section trades the idea between the hands and travels through other keys, starting in G minor, before the canon returns and leads home to F major.

Section 1 · Opening canon (F major)
The right hand leaps up an F-major arpeggio in eighth notes and then runs down in sixteenths, and the left hand repeats the same line one bar later. Reading here means following two copies of one tune, offset by a bar.
Section 2 · Imitative middle (G minor)
The voices swap fragments instead of keeping a strict canon, and diminished-seventh harmony steers the music into G minor and onward. Expect more accidentals.
Section 3 · Closing canon (F major)
The canon comes back, passing through B-flat major before cadencing firmly in F major.

About Invention No. 8 in F Major, BWV 779

Bach's fifteen two-part inventions first appeared as short preludes, called Praeambula, in a keyboard book he compiled for his eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann. He later revised them into a teaching collection whose fair copy is dated 1723, arranged in ascending key order, with the F major piece eighth.

Bach's preface explains the aim: to teach keyboard players to play two voices cleanly, to come up with good musical ideas and develop them well, and above all to play in a singing style. In No. 8 that means treating the left hand as a full partner, since it repeats the right hand's material a bar later.

The invention was first printed in 1801, long after Bach's death, in an edition of the 15 Inventions. Before that it circulated in manuscript copies, including ones by Wilhelm Friedemann and by Johann Peter Kellner.

  • In the keyboard book for Wilhelm Friedemann, this piece is headed Praeambulum rather than Invention.
  • The fifteen inventions run up the keyboard in key order and cover eight major and seven minor keys.
  • Bach's preface promises students a strong foretaste of composition, not just finger training.
  • Bach wrote no tempo marking at the head of Invention No. 8, so players choose their own lively pace.

Why the first passage is level 7

That passage is level 7 rather than 6 because a hand covers more than one position, it reaches 3 ledger lines, it runs fast figuration.

Read each hand as its own melody. The left hand repeats the right hand's theme a bar later, so once you have read a shape in one hand, look for it again in the other.

Questions about Invention No. 8 in F Major, BWV 779

How hard is Invention No. 8 in F Major, BWV 779 to play?
Its passages grade from level 7 to level 9 on Real Sight Reader's ten-level reading scale, so the full piece is intermediate to advanced reading. The hardest stretch is bars 25–28 at level 9.
Is there an easy part of Invention No. 8 in F Major, BWV 779 for beginners?
Its easiest passage is level 7, so it suits a reader past the beginner stage. Start with bars 9–12 for both hands together, the level-7 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 7 because a hand covers more than one position and it reaches 3 ledger lines.
What key and time signature is Invention No. 8 in F Major, BWV 779 in?
Invention No. 8 in F Major, BWV 779 is in F major, 1 flat. The engraving on this page is in 3/4 time.
Who composed Invention No. 8 in F Major, BWV 779?
Johann Sebastian Bach, German baroque (1685–1750). Bach's fifteen two-part inventions first appeared as short preludes, called Praeambula, in a keyboard book he compiled for his eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann.
Can I practice Invention No. 8 in F Major, BWV 779 online for free?
Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the 7 graded passages from Invention No. 8 in F Major, BWV 779 in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
What is the difference between an invention and a sinfonia in Bach's set?
The fifteen inventions, BWV 772-786, are written in two voices, and the fifteen sinfonias, BWV 787-801, in three. Both groups are arranged in ascending key order.
Why did Bach write the Inventions?
His preface says they were meant to teach students to play two voices cleanly, develop good ideas, play in a singing style, and get a first taste of composing.
How long does Invention No. 8 take to play?
It is short, about a minute at a lively tempo, so the work goes into evenness and balance rather than length.

Every passage, easiest first

The reading release grades 7 distinct passages of this piece. Open any of them in the reader:

Level 7
bars 9–16 both hands · bars 9–12 both hands · bars 13–16 both hands · bars 21–24 both hands · bars 29–32 both hands
Level 9
bars 25–28 both hands · bars 25–32 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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