Invention (musical composition)

Some modern publishers call them "three-part inventions" to avoid confusion with symphonies.)

In minor- and major-mode inventions, the theme is typically restated in the relative major and the dominant, respectively.

The final episode ends on a half cadence in the original key, and is often exaggerated to make the subject sound extra special when it returns.

Inventions originated from contrapuntal improvisations in Italy, especially from the form of the composer Francesco Antonio Bonporti.

Bach later wrote a set of 15 three-part inventions, called sinfonias (BWV 787–801).