Invention No. 8 BWV 779 · piano sheet music & MIDI file
Bach's Invention No. 8 as a free MIDI file: watch the green hand chase the blue one in the preview, then take the file and the sheet music PDF.
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.
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: notes fall toward the keyboard, each hand gets its color, and Wait mode is there if you're starting out.
Try Pianovera for freeDownload the Invention No. 8 BWV 779 MIDI and sheet music
Two files are waiting for you: the Invention No. 8 BWV 779 piano MIDI file (5 KB, opens in Pianovera or any MIDI player) and the Invention No. 8 BWV 779 piano sheet music PDF (67 KB, printable). Both come from the same engraving: what you read on the score is exactly what you hear in the preview.
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.