The Inventions and Sinfonias (BWV 772-801) are a collection of thirty short keyboard works that Bach composed over the course of several years in Köthen and Leipzig. Also referred to as his Two- and Three-Part Inventions, Bach included this handwritten introduction to the collection:
“Honest Method by which the amateurs of the clavichord — especially, however, those desirous of learning — are shown a clear way not only (1) to learn to play cleanly in two parts, but also, after further progress, (2) to handle three obligato parts correctly and well; and along with this not only to obtain good inventions (ideas), but to develop the same well; above all however, to achieve a cantabile style in playing and at the same time acquire a strong foretaste of composition.”