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.

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

[1] Schuijer (2008), p. 66.^{[incomplete short citation]}

[2] "Inversion | Jazz, Improvisation & Harmony | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2024-01-26.

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