Green notes: right hand, blue notes: left hand. Preview played right in your browser with the app's real piano (lightweight version). Inside Pianovera: full multi-layer sound, fingering display and Wait mode.
The eighth invention is a chase: the right hand blasts off on an F major arpeggio, the left launches after it one bar later, and neither lets go until the double bar. It's very nearly a strict canon, and easily the happiest MIDI in the collection.
After Invention No. 1, this is the logical next step: the same two-equal-hands discipline, but at a tempo that sparkles and with broken arpeggios that want a steady hand. Students love it because it sounds brilliant long before it gets hard. The energy does half the work.
Invention No. 8 BWV 779: the first notes
Right hand, in letter names (C4 = middle C): F4 A4 F4 C5 F4 F5 E5 D5 C5 D5 C5 A#4 A4 A#4 A4 G4 F4 A4 C5 A4 F5 C5 A5 C6… The rest scrolls in the preview above, with the fingering, and the sheet music PDF has the whole piece.
Play Invention No. 8 BWV 779 on the virtual piano
Here are the Invention No. 8 BWV 779 virtual piano notes, in computer keyboard letters: the first 4 bars of the melody. One key per note, read left to right; dark keys are the sharps, and a thin line marks each bar. The melody sounds an octave lower than written, so it fits on the keyboard.
Letters for a QWERTY keyboardYour keyboard: 34 notes
VNVQV
REWQWQJNJNB
VNQNRQ
YI7IYI7IYI7I
▶ Play on the virtual pianoThe piano opens with this piece loaded: the key to play lights up and waits for you.
What you'll be working on
The theme's arpeggio, clean at any speed
The canon: two equal hands, one bar apart
Pearled sixteenths with no pedal
Stamina at a bright tempo, start to finish
Playing Invention No. 8 BWV 779 on piano with Pianovera
In Pianovera the canon turns visible: the blue motif and the green motif draw exactly the same shape, shifted. Wait mode hands-separate for two days, then together at 60%, then climb 10% at a time. It rises fast.
Open Invention No. 8 BWV 779 in Pianovera: the notes fall toward an 88-key virtual piano keyboard, each hand gets its color, and Wait mode is there if you're starting out. On a PC, it's falling notes piano software for Windows, with video export up to 4K.
Free, with no time limit and no ads: 30 pieces (10 in full, 20 in a simplified version), the first 10 lessons and 10 minutes of 3D hands (then 15 seconds per piece). Premium opens all 651 pieces.
Download the Invention No. 8 BWV 779 MIDI and sheet music
The work itself is in the public domain, and this MIDI engraving was placed in the public domain by its typesetter on the Mutopia Project. Use it freely, videos included.
About this piece
Is Invention No. 8 BWV 779 hard to play on piano?
We rate it intermediate: 598 notes over 1:07, spanning C2 to C6. The first thing to work on: the theme's arpeggio, clean at any speed.
Where can I get the sheet music for Invention No. 8 BWV 779?
Right on this page: the "View the sheet music" button opens the PDF (67 KB), engraved by the Mutopia Project from the same source as the MIDI file, Public domain license. View it, print it, keep it.
Is the Invention No. 8 BWV 779 MIDI file really free?
Yes. Johann Sebastian Bach died more than 70 years ago, so the work (1723) is public domain. This MIDI engraving is public domain too: download it and use it freely, videos included.
