Inversion (music)


{
#(set-global-staff-size 16)
      \new PianoStaff <<
        \new Staff <<
            \relative c'' {
                \set Score.currentBarNumber = #21
                \set Score.proportionalNotationDuration = #(ly:make-moment 1/8)

                \bar ""
                \clef treble \key d \minor \time 3/4
                \once \override TextScript.script-priority = #-100 a4~^\mordent^\markup { \sharp } a16 g! f e g f e d
                \override NoteHead.color = #red \stemUp e8 e' d cis b d 
                \override NoteHead.color = #black cis16
                }
            >>
        \new Staff <<
           \clef bass \key d \minor \time 3/4
           \new Voice \relative c' {
                \override NoteHead.color = #red a8 a, b cis d b
                \override NoteHead.color = #black cis16 a gis a f'4-. d\trill a'8
                }
           \new Voice \relative c' {
                \stemUp \override NoteHead.color = #red a4 r r
                }
            >>
    >> }
An example of melodic inversion from the fugue in D minor from J. S. Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1.[1] Though they start on different pitches (A and E), the second highlighted melody is the upside-down version of the first highlighted melody. That is, when the first goes up, the second goes down the same number of diatonic steps (with some chromatic alteration); and when the first goes down, the second goes up the same number of steps.

In music theory, an inversion is a rearrangement of the top-to-bottom elements in an interval, a chord, a melody, or a group of contrapuntal lines of music.[2] In each of these cases, "inversion" has a distinct but related meaning. The concept of inversion also plays an important role in musical set theory.

  1. ^ Schuijer (2008), p. 66.[incomplete short citation]
  2. ^ "Inversion | Jazz, Improvisation & Harmony | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2024-01-26.