The Inventions for large orchestra, H 234, was completed by Bohuslav Martinů on February 12, 1934, in Paris. This firework of colorful ideas was warmly received at the Venice Film Festival at its premiere on September 8, 1934. According to the Venetian critics at the time, the composition was considered the most interesting work performed at the festival. The inventions were created in the middle of work on the opera The Plays of Mary, H 236, and thanks to the Venetian success, they brought an order from the local organizers for another orchestral composition –Tre ricercari, H 267 (completed in 1938).
The Inventions are written for a large orchestra, an important component here is the piano part, which evokes the solo concerto, especially in the second movement. The orchestral colors are softened, a detail conceived in witty sound shades comes together again in the foreground, together with a small-scale rhythm. An interesting orchestration does not work with harmonic "roughnesses", but instead provides a place for "fragile" dissonances, as used by the Impressionists in a somewhat different context. In the free second movement, the melodic axis is formed by a diatonic melody, which retains its song character in rhythm and phrasing. These "instrumental songs" shape the character of many of Bohuslav Martinů's future orchestral and chamber works in the coming decades.
Lenka Foltýnová, programme of the Bohuslav Martinů Festival's concert, December 11–12, 2003