Bach's two- and three-part Inventions

Synopsis

As kids, many of us received home-made presents: a sweater or pair of socks, perhaps, or — if you were unlucky — a crocheted bow tie you were forced to wear when Auntie came to visit.

On today’s date in 1720, Johann Sebastian Bach started a home-made present for his 9-year old son, Wilhelm Friedemann. It was a collection of little keyboard pieces designed to teach him to play the harpsichord, pieces now known as Bach’s Two- and Three-Part Inventions.

Here’s how J.S. Bach himself described these pieces: “Straightforward Instruction, in which amateurs of the keyboard, and especially the eager ones, are shown a clear way not only of learning to play cleanly in two voices, but also, after further progress, of dealing correctly and satisfactorily with three … all the while acquiring a strong foretaste of composition.”

In the case of little Wilhelm Friedemann, it did the trick. Not only did he master the keyboard, he became a composer himself.

Even just attentively listening to Papa Bach’s inventions can have its rewards, according to the late music critic Michael Steinberg, who wrote, “Bach has done such a good job at instilling 'a strong foretaste of composition’ that… they will make the hearer a better, … a more aware and thus a more enjoying, listener as well.”

Music Played in Today's Program

J.S. Bach (1685-1750): Two-Part Invention #6; Simone Dinnerstein; Sony 79597

On This Day

Births

• 1727 - French composer Claude-Bénigne Balbastre, in Dijon

• 1870 - French composer and organist Charles Tournemire, in Bordeaux

• 1901 - Austrian composer Hans Erich Apostel, in Karlsruhe, Germany

• 1903 - English composer Robin Milford, in Oxford

• 1916 - French composer Henri Dutilleux, in Angers

• 1923 - American composer Leslie Bassett, in Hanford, California

• 1924 - American jazz composer and trombonist James Louis (“J.J.”) Johnson, in Indianapolis

Deaths

• 1964 - American composer Marc Blitzstein, 58, from injuries suffered in a barroom fight, in Fort-de-France, Martinique

Premieres

• 1723 - Handel: opera Ottone, re di Germania (Julian date: Jan. 12)

• 1859 - Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1, with the Hanover Court Orchestra conducted by Joseph Joachim and the composer as the soloist

• 1887 - Gilbert & Sullivan: operetta Ruddigore at the Svoy Theatre in London

• 1894 - Glazunov: Symphony No. 4, in St.Petersburg (Gregorian date: Feb. 3)

• 1908 - Stravinsky: Symphony, in St. Petersburg (Gregorian date: Feb. 4)

• 1934 - Shostakovich: opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (first version), in Leningrad at the Maliiy Opera Theater

• 1936 - Hindemith: Trauermusik (Music of Mourning) for Viola and String Orchestra,on a BBC memorial concert for King George V of England (who had died on January 20, 1935), with Sir Adrian Boult conducting and the composer as soloist

• 1970 - Carlisle Floyd: opera Of Mice and Men, in Seattle. According to Opera America, this is one of the most frequently-produced American operas during the past decade.

• 1980 - John Williams: Cowboys Overture, by the Boston Pops, conducted by the composer

• 1998 - Ned Rorem: song-cycle Evidence of Things Not Seen, as Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in New York City, by the New York Festival of Song

• 1998 - Bright Sheng: Postcards, in Minneapolis at the University of Minnesota, by the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Hugh Wolff conducting

Others

• 1575 - The Protestant Queen of England, Elizabeth I, grants a license to Thomas Tallis and William Byrd (both Catholics), to print music for 22 years

• 1889 - Columbia Phonograph Company founded in Washington, D.C.

• 1907 - The Metropolitan Opera production of R. Strauss’ opera Salome, with soprano Olive Fremstad in the title role, creates a scandal. The opera is dropped after a single performance, and not staged at the Met again until the 1930s.