Fugue and Inversion is a literal title, as the piece is meant to be played normally and then again with the score upside down and backwards.

The piece started with that simple idea, to create a piece to be played forwards and backwards. Although in performance, its not quite that simple to perform a work upside down, especially once accidentals get involved, as the music becomes impossibly complex to read. Because of that, I transcribed the piece upside down for the inversion. While the piece is notated in two movements, they are meant to be played essentially attaca, with only a brief moment between them.

This moment between the two movements is where the essence of the piece happens, as the audience really won’t understand the music unless they read the score notes. There are two sets of parts for performers to use, a preferred “flipped” part as well as the normal set with the title page and whatnot. The “flipped parts” are meant to be printed double sided and traded between players to drive home the message of the piece. When the score is flipped, the sop part will become the bari, alto will become tenor, etc. so flipping the music will help the audience visualize the literal flip happening.