The Musical Offering
Encyclopedia
The Musical Offering BWV
1079, is a collection of canon
s and fugue
s and other pieces of music by Johann Sebastian Bach
, all based on a single musical theme given to him by Frederick II of Prussia
(Frederick the Great), to whom they are dedicated. The Ricercar
a 6, a six-voice fugue which is the highpoint of the entire work, was put forward by the musicologist Charles Rosen
as the most significant piano composition in history (partly because it is one of the first). This Ricercar is also occasionally called the Prussian Fugue, a name used by Bach himself.
, came about because Bach's son Carl Philipp Emanuel
was employed there as court musician. Frederick wanted to show the elder Bach a novelty, the piano
, which had been invented some years earlier. The King owned several of the experimental instruments being developed by Gottfried Silbermann. During his anticipated visit to Frederick's palace in Potsdam, Bach, who was well known for his skill at improvising, received from Frederick a long and complex musical theme on which to improvise a three-voice fugue. He did so, but Frederick then challenged him to improvise a six-voice fugue on the same theme. The public present thought that just a malicious caprice by the King, intent upon humiliating philosophers and artists. Bach answered that he would need to work the score and send it to the King afterwards. He then returned to Leipzig to write out the Thema Regium ("theme of the king"):
Two months after the meeting, Bach published a set of pieces based on this theme which we now know as The Musical Offering. Bach inscribed the piece "Regis Iussu Cantio Et Reliqua Canonica Arte Resoluta" (the theme given by the king, with additions, resolved in the canonic style), the first letters of which spell out the word ricercar
, a well-known genre of the time.
The "thema regium" appears as the theme for the first and last movements of the 7th Sonata in D Minor by Friedrich Wilhelm Rust, written in about 1788, and also as the theme for elaborate variations by Giovanni Paisiello
in his "Les Adieux de la Grande Duchesse ds Russies," written in about 1784, upon his departure from the court of Catherine the Great
.
609) by George Frideric Handel
, published in Six fugues or voluntarys for organ or harpsichord. Sassoon notes that "Handel's theme is much shorter than the King's, but its musical 'architecture' is uncannily similar: jumps followed by a descending chromatic scale." He also elaborates on their additional similarities, which lead Sassoon to suggest that Bach used Handel's A minor fugue as a structural model or guide for the Musical Offerings Ricercar a 6, and that its musical concepts may also have influenced Bach's development of the Ricercar a 3. Nevertheless, the Ricercar a 6 is longer and incomparably more complex than Handel's fugue.
Apart from the trio sonata, which is written for flute, violin
and basso continuo, the pieces have few indications of which instruments are meant to play them, although there is now significant support for the idea that they are for solo keyboard, like most of Bach's other published works.
The ricercars and canons have been realised in various ways. The ricercars are more frequently performed on keyboard than the canons, which are often played by an ensemble of chamber music
ians, with instrumentation comparable to that of the trio sonata.
As the printed version gives the impression to be organised for (reduction of) page turning when sight-playing the score, the order of the pieces intended by Bach (if there was an intended order) remains uncertain, although it is customary to open the collection with the Ricercar a 3, and play the trio sonata toward the end. The Canones super Thema Regium are also usually played together.
above the melody. These compositions are called the riddle fugues (or sometimes, more appropriately, the riddle canons). The performer(s) is/are supposed to interpret the music as a multi-part piece (a piece with several intertwining melodies), while solving the "riddle". Some of these riddles have been explained to have more than one possible "solution", although nowadays most printed editions of the score give a single, more or less "standard" solution of the riddle, so that interpreters can just play, without having to worry about the Latin, or the riddle.
One of these riddle canons, "in augmentationem" (i.e. augmentation
, the length of the notes gets longer), is inscribed "Notulis crescentibus crescat Fortuna Regis" (may the fortunes of the king increase like the length of the notes), while a modulating
canon which ends a tone higher than it starts is inscribed "Ascendenteque Modulationis ascendat Gloria Regis" (as the modulation rises, so may the King's glory).
’s is the best-founded and the most plausible, drawing attention to the possibility of theological connotations. Marissen sees an incongruity between the official dedication to Frederick the Great and the affect of the music, which is often melancholy, even mournful. The trio sonata is a contrapuntal sonata da chiesa
, whose style was at odds with Frederick’s secular tastes. The inscription Quaerendo invenietis, found over Canon No. 9, alludes to the Sermon on the Mount
(“Seek and ye shall find”, Matthew 7:7, Luke 11:9). The main title, Opfer (“offering”), makes it possible for the cycle to be viewed as an Offertory in the religious sense of the word.
In a recent study Zoltán Göncz
has pointed out, the authorial injunction to seek (Quaerendo invenietis) does not only relate to the riddle canons but to the six-part ricercar as well, whose archaic title also means to seek. There are several Biblical citations hidden in this movement, and their discovery is made especially difficult by various compositional maneuvers. The unique formal structure of the fugue provides a clue: certain anomalies and apparent inconsistencies point to external, nonmusical influences.
, who in 1935 made a version for small orchestra
, noted for its Klangfarbenmelodie
style (i.e. melody lines are passed on from one instrument to another after every few notes, every note receiving the "tone color" of the instrument it is played on):
Bart Berman
composed three new canons on the Royal Theme of the Musical Offering that were published in 1978 as a special holiday supplement to the Dutch music journal Mens & Melodie (publisher: Het Spectrum
).
Sofia Gubaidulina
used the Royal Theme of the Musical Offering in her violin concerto Offertorium
(1980). Orchestrated in an arrangement similar to Webern's, the theme is deconstructed note by note through a series of variations and reconstructed as a Russian Orthodox hymn.
Leslie Howard
produced a new realisation of the Musical Offering, which he orchestrated and conducted in Finland in 1990.
BWV
The Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis is the numbering system identifying compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach. The prefix BWV, followed by the work's number, is the shorthand identification for Bach's compositions...
1079, is a collection of canon
Canon (music)
In music, a canon is a contrapuntal composition that employs a melody with one or more imitations of the melody played after a given duration . The initial melody is called the leader , while the imitative melody, which is played in a different voice, is called the follower...
s and fugue
Fugue
In music, a fugue is a compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject that is introduced at the beginning in imitation and recurs frequently in the course of the composition....
s and other pieces of music by Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
, all based on a single musical theme given to him by Frederick II of Prussia
Frederick II of Prussia
Frederick II was a King in Prussia and a King of Prussia from the Hohenzollern dynasty. In his role as a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, he was also Elector of Brandenburg. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel...
(Frederick the Great), to whom they are dedicated. The Ricercar
Ricercar
A ricercar is a type of late Renaissance and mostly early Baroque instrumental composition. The term means to search out, and many ricercars serve a preludial function to "search out" the key or mode of a following piece...
a 6, a six-voice fugue which is the highpoint of the entire work, was put forward by the musicologist Charles Rosen
Charles Rosen
Charles Rosen is an American pianist and author on music.-Life and career:In his youth he studied piano with Moriz Rosenthal. Rosenthal, born in 1862, had been a student of Franz Liszt...
as the most significant piano composition in history (partly because it is one of the first). This Ricercar is also occasionally called the Prussian Fugue, a name used by Bach himself.
The King's theme
The collection has its roots in a meeting between Bach and Frederick II on May 7, 1747. The meeting, taking place at the King's residence in PotsdamPotsdam
Potsdam is the capital city of the German federal state of Brandenburg and part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. It is situated on the River Havel, southwest of Berlin city centre....
, came about because Bach's son Carl Philipp Emanuel
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
right|250pxCarl Philipp Emanuel Bach was a German Classical period musician and composer, the fifth child and second son of Johann Sebastian Bach and Maria Barbara Bach...
was employed there as court musician. Frederick wanted to show the elder Bach a novelty, the piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, which had been invented some years earlier. The King owned several of the experimental instruments being developed by Gottfried Silbermann. During his anticipated visit to Frederick's palace in Potsdam, Bach, who was well known for his skill at improvising, received from Frederick a long and complex musical theme on which to improvise a three-voice fugue. He did so, but Frederick then challenged him to improvise a six-voice fugue on the same theme. The public present thought that just a malicious caprice by the King, intent upon humiliating philosophers and artists. Bach answered that he would need to work the score and send it to the King afterwards. He then returned to Leipzig to write out the Thema Regium ("theme of the king"):
Ricercar
A ricercar is a type of late Renaissance and mostly early Baroque instrumental composition. The term means to search out, and many ricercars serve a preludial function to "search out" the key or mode of a following piece...
, a well-known genre of the time.
The "thema regium" appears as the theme for the first and last movements of the 7th Sonata in D Minor by Friedrich Wilhelm Rust, written in about 1788, and also as the theme for elaborate variations by Giovanni Paisiello
Giovanni Paisiello
Giovanni Paisiello was an Italian composer of the Classical era.-Life:Paisiello was born at Taranto and educated by the Jesuits there. He became known for his beautiful singing voice and in 1754 was sent to the Conservatorio di S. Onofrio at Naples, where he studied under Francesco Durante, and...
in his "Les Adieux de la Grande Duchesse ds Russies," written in about 1784, upon his departure from the court of Catherine the Great
Catherine II of Russia
Catherine II, also known as Catherine the Great , Empress of Russia, was born in Stettin, Pomerania, Prussia on as Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg...
.
Possible origin of the theme
Humphrey F. Sassoon has compared the theme issued by Frederick II to the theme of an A minor fugue (HWVHändel-Werke-Verzeichnis
The Händel-Werke-Verzeichnis is the Catalogue of Handel's Works. It was published in three volumes by Bernd Baselt between 1978 and 1986, and lists every piece of music known to have been written by George Frideric Handel...
609) by George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
, published in Six fugues or voluntarys for organ or harpsichord. Sassoon notes that "Handel's theme is much shorter than the King's, but its musical 'architecture' is uncannily similar: jumps followed by a descending chromatic scale." He also elaborates on their additional similarities, which lead Sassoon to suggest that Bach used Handel's A minor fugue as a structural model or guide for the Musical Offerings Ricercar a 6, and that its musical concepts may also have influenced Bach's development of the Ricercar a 3. Nevertheless, the Ricercar a 6 is longer and incomparably more complex than Handel's fugue.
Structure and instrumentation
In its finished form, The Musical Offering comprises:- Two RicercarsRicercarA ricercar is a type of late Renaissance and mostly early Baroque instrumental composition. The term means to search out, and many ricercars serve a preludial function to "search out" the key or mode of a following piece...
, written down on as many staves as there are voices:- a Ricercar a 6 (a six-voice fugue)
- a Ricercar a 3 (a three-voice fugue)
- Ten CanonCanon (music)In music, a canon is a contrapuntal composition that employs a melody with one or more imitations of the melody played after a given duration . The initial melody is called the leader , while the imitative melody, which is played in a different voice, is called the follower...
s:- Canones diversi super Thema Regium:
- 2 Canons a 2 (the first representing a notable example of a crab canonCrab canonA crab canon—also known by the Latin form of the name, canon cancrizans—is an arrangement of two musical lines that are complementary and backward, similar to a palindrome. Originally it is a musical term for a kind of canon in which one line is reversed in time from the other . A famous example...
) - Canon a 2, per motum contrarium
- Canon a 2, per augmentationem, contrario motu
- Canon a 2, per tonos
- 2 Canons a 2 (the first representing a notable example of a crab canon
- Canon perpetuus
- Fuga canonica
- Canon a 2 "Quaerendo invenietis"
- Canon a 4
- Canon perpetuus, contrario motu
- Canones diversi super Thema Regium:
- A SonataSonataSonata , in music, literally means a piece played as opposed to a cantata , a piece sung. The term, being vague, naturally evolved through the history of music, designating a variety of forms prior to the Classical era...
sopr'il Soggetto Reale – a trio sonataTrio sonataThe trio sonata is a musical form that was popular in the 17th and early 18th centuries.A trio sonata is written for two solo melodic instruments and basso continuo, making three parts in all, hence the name trio sonata...
featuring the fluteFluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
, an instrument which Frederick played, consisting of four movements:- LargoLargo-Music:* Largo, a very slow tempo, or a musical piece or movement in such a tempo* Handel's Largo or "Ombra mai fù", an aria from the opera Serse* Hugo Largo, American band from the 1980s* Strong and stately...
- AllegroAllegroAllegro may refer to:* Allegro * Musical tempo meaning cheerful or brisk; see Tempo#Italian tempo markings* Allegro library, a computer game programming library* Allegro , a typeface designed in 1936...
- Andante
- AllegroAllegroAllegro may refer to:* Allegro * Musical tempo meaning cheerful or brisk; see Tempo#Italian tempo markings* Allegro library, a computer game programming library* Allegro , a typeface designed in 1936...
- Largo
Apart from the trio sonata, which is written for flute, violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
and basso continuo, the pieces have few indications of which instruments are meant to play them, although there is now significant support for the idea that they are for solo keyboard, like most of Bach's other published works.
The ricercars and canons have been realised in various ways. The ricercars are more frequently performed on keyboard than the canons, which are often played by an ensemble of chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
ians, with instrumentation comparable to that of the trio sonata.
As the printed version gives the impression to be organised for (reduction of) page turning when sight-playing the score, the order of the pieces intended by Bach (if there was an intended order) remains uncertain, although it is customary to open the collection with the Ricercar a 3, and play the trio sonata toward the end. The Canones super Thema Regium are also usually played together.
Musical riddles
Some of the canons of the Musical Offering are represented in the original score by no more than a short monodic melody of a few measures, with a more or less enigmatic inscription in LatinLatin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
above the melody. These compositions are called the riddle fugues (or sometimes, more appropriately, the riddle canons). The performer(s) is/are supposed to interpret the music as a multi-part piece (a piece with several intertwining melodies), while solving the "riddle". Some of these riddles have been explained to have more than one possible "solution", although nowadays most printed editions of the score give a single, more or less "standard" solution of the riddle, so that interpreters can just play, without having to worry about the Latin, or the riddle.
One of these riddle canons, "in augmentationem" (i.e. augmentation
Augmentation (music)
In Western music and music theory, the word augmentation has three distinct meanings. Augmentation is a compositional device where a melody, theme or motif is presented in longer note-values than were previously used...
, the length of the notes gets longer), is inscribed "Notulis crescentibus crescat Fortuna Regis" (may the fortunes of the king increase like the length of the notes), while a modulating
Modulation (music)
In music, modulation is most commonly the act or process of changing from one key to another. This may or may not be accompanied by a change in key signature. Modulations articulate or create the structure or form of many pieces, as well as add interest...
canon which ends a tone higher than it starts is inscribed "Ascendenteque Modulationis ascendat Gloria Regis" (as the modulation rises, so may the King's glory).
Theological character
Among the theories about external sources of influence, Michael MarissenMichael Marissen
Michael Marissen is professor of music at Swarthmore College, where he joined the faculty in 1989. Marissen studied music history at Calvin College and received his PhD from Brandeis University...
’s is the best-founded and the most plausible, drawing attention to the possibility of theological connotations. Marissen sees an incongruity between the official dedication to Frederick the Great and the affect of the music, which is often melancholy, even mournful. The trio sonata is a contrapuntal sonata da chiesa
Sonata da chiesa
Sonata da chiesa is an instrumental composition dating from the Baroque period, generally consisting of four movements. More than one melody was often used, and the movements were ordered slow–fast–slow–fast with respect to tempo...
, whose style was at odds with Frederick’s secular tastes. The inscription Quaerendo invenietis, found over Canon No. 9, alludes to the Sermon on the Mount
Sermon on the Mount
The Sermon on the Mount is a collection of sayings and teachings of Jesus, which emphasizes his moral teaching found in the Gospel of Matthew...
(“Seek and ye shall find”, Matthew 7:7, Luke 11:9). The main title, Opfer (“offering”), makes it possible for the cycle to be viewed as an Offertory in the religious sense of the word.
In a recent study Zoltán Göncz
Zoltán Göncz
Zoltán Göncz is a Hungarian composer who often applies archaic forms and complex structures in his compositions.He graduated from the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music in 1980...
has pointed out, the authorial injunction to seek (Quaerendo invenietis) does not only relate to the riddle canons but to the six-part ricercar as well, whose archaic title also means to seek. There are several Biblical citations hidden in this movement, and their discovery is made especially difficult by various compositional maneuvers. The unique formal structure of the fugue provides a clue: certain anomalies and apparent inconsistencies point to external, nonmusical influences.
Reception
Little is known about how Frederick would have received the score dedicated to him, and whether he tried to solve any riddle or played the flute part of the trio sonata. Frederick was reputedly not fond of complicated music, and soon after Bach's visit he was on his next war campaign, so it is possible it was not well received.20th century adaptations and citations
The "Ricercar a 6" has been arranged on its own on a number of occasions, the most prominent arranger being Anton WebernAnton Webern
Anton Webern was an Austrian composer and conductor. He was a member of the Second Viennese School. As a student and significant follower of Arnold Schoenberg, he became one of the best-known exponents of the twelve-tone technique; in addition, his innovations regarding schematic organization of...
, who in 1935 made a version for small orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
, noted for its Klangfarbenmelodie
Klangfarbenmelodie
Klangfarbenmelodie is a musical technique that involves distributing a musical line or melody to several instruments, rather than assigning it to just one instrument, thereby adding color and texture to the melodic line...
style (i.e. melody lines are passed on from one instrument to another after every few notes, every note receiving the "tone color" of the instrument it is played on):
Bart Berman
Bart Berman is a Dutch-Israeli pianist and composer, best known as an interpreter of Franz Schubert and 20th century music....
composed three new canons on the Royal Theme of the Musical Offering that were published in 1978 as a special holiday supplement to the Dutch music journal Mens & Melodie (publisher: Het Spectrum
Het Spectrum
Het Spectrum is a Dutch publishing house.It publishes books, under its own name and two other trade marks: Winkler Prins and Prisma. Since September 1999 Het Spectrum is a business unit within PCM Algemene Boeken....
).
Sofia Gubaidulina
Sofia Gubaidulina
Sofia Asgatovna Gubaidulina, is a Russian composer of half Russian, half Tatar ethnicity.Gubaidulina's music is marked by the use of unusual instrumental combinations...
used the Royal Theme of the Musical Offering in her violin concerto Offertorium
Offertorium (Gubaidulina)
Offertorium is a concerto for violin and orchestra composed by Sofia Gubaidulina in 1980 and revised in 1982 and 1986...
(1980). Orchestrated in an arrangement similar to Webern's, the theme is deconstructed note by note through a series of variations and reconstructed as a Russian Orthodox hymn.
Leslie Howard
Leslie Howard (musician)
Leslie Howard AM is an Australian pianist and composer. He is best known for being the only pianist to have recorded the complete solo piano works of Franz Liszt, a project which included more than 300 premiere recordings...
produced a new realisation of the Musical Offering, which he orchestrated and conducted in Finland in 1990.
Notable recordings
- Milan MunclingerMilan MunclingerMilan Munclinger was a significant Czech flautist, conductor, composer and musical scientist.-Biographical:...
, Ars RedivivaArs RedivivaArs Rediviva was a Czech instrumental early music group, whose historically informed performances played a key role in the revival of Baroque music in Czechoslovakia.-Ars Rediviva chamber ensemble:...
: Stanislav Duchoň, Karel Bidlo, Jiří Baxa, Josef Vlach, Václav Snítil, Jaroslav Motlík, František SlámaFrantišek SlámaFrantišek Sláma may refer to:*František Sláma *František Sláma...
, František Pošta, Viktorie Švihlíková (Supraphon, 1959) - Karl Richter, Otto Büchner, Kurt Guntner, Siegfried Meinecke, Fritz Kiskalt, Hedwig Bilgram (DGG/Archiv Produktion, 1963)
- Milan MunclingerMilan MunclingerMilan Munclinger was a significant Czech flautist, conductor, composer and musical scientist.-Biographical:...
, Ars RedivivaArs RedivivaArs Rediviva was a Czech instrumental early music group, whose historically informed performances played a key role in the revival of Baroque music in Czechoslovakia.-Ars Rediviva chamber ensemble:...
: Stanislav Duchoň, Karel Bidlo, Václav Snítil, Jaroslav Motlík, František SlámaFrantišek SlámaFrantišek Sláma may refer to:*František Sláma *František Sláma...
, František Pošta, Josef Hála (Supraphon, 1966) - Nikolaus HarnoncourtNikolaus HarnoncourtNikolaus Harnoncourt is an Austrian conductor, particularly known for his historically informed performances of music from the Classical era and earlier. Starting out as a classical cellist, he founded his own period instrument ensemble in the 1950s, and became a pioneer of the Early Music movement...
, Concentus Musicus WienConcentus Musicus WienConcentus Musicus Wien is a baroque music ensemble founded by Nikolaus and Alice Harnoncourt in 1953. It generated the now well-established movement in performance and recordings to play early music on period instruments....
(Teldec, 1970) - Neville MarrinerNeville MarrinerSir Neville Marriner is an English conductor and violinist.-Biography:Marriner was born in Lincoln and studied at the Royal College of Music and the Paris Conservatoire. He played the violin in the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Martin String Quartet and London Symphony Orchestra, playing with the...
, Academy of St. Martin in the FieldsAcademy of St. Martin in the FieldsThe Academy of St Martin in the Fields is an English chamber orchestra, based in London.Sir Neville Marriner founded the ensemble as The Academy of St.-Martin-in-the-Fields in London as a small, conductorless string group. The ensemble's name comes from Trafalgar Square's St Martin-in-the-Fields...
(Philips, 1974) - Reinhard GoebelReinhard GoebelReinhard Goebel is a German conductor and violinist specialising in early music on authentic instruments. Goebel received his first violin lessons at the age of twelve...
, Musica Antiqua KölnMusica Antiqua KölnMusica Antiqua Köln was an early music group that was founded in 1973 by Reinhard Goebel and fellow students from the Conservatory of Music in Cologne. Musica Antiqua Köln devoted itself largely to the performance of the music of the 17th and 18th centuries...
(Archiv Bach Edition, 1979) - Ensemble Sonnerie (Virgin, 1994)
- Barthold KuijkenBarthold KuijkenBarthold Kuijken is a Belgian flautist and recorder player, known for playing baroque music on authentic instruments and particularly known for pioneering this manner of performance with his brothers, cellist and viol player Wieland Kuijken and violinist Sigiswald Kuijken and the harpsichordist...
(flute), Sigiswald KuijkenSigiswald KuijkenSigiswald Kuijken is a Belgian violinist, violist, and conductor known for playing on authentic instruments.-Biography:Kuijken was born in Dilbeek, near Brussels. He was a member of the Alarius Ensemble of Brussels between 1964 and 1972 and formed La Petite Bande in 1972...
(violin), Wieland KuijkenWieland KuijkenWieland Kuijken is a Belgian musician and player of the viola da gamba and baroque cello.Kuijken started his career in music in 1952 with the Brussels Alariusensemble of which he formed part until 1972...
(viola da gamba), Robert Kohnen (harpsichord) (Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, 1994) - Jordi SavallJordi SavallJordi Savall i Bernadet is a Catalan viol player, conductor and composer. He has been one of the major figures in the field of Western early music since the 1970s, largely responsible for bringing the viol back to life on the stage...
, Le Concert des NationsLe Concert des NationsLe Concert des Nations is an orchestra with period instruments, able to perform the orchestral and symphonic repertoire from the Baroque to Romanticism: 1600 - 1850. The orchestra was created in 1989, the youngest of the groups conducted by the Catalan maestro and viola da gamba virtuoso Jordi Savall...
(Alia Vox, 1999)
See also
- Johann Sebastian BachJohann Sebastian BachJohann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
- Bach compositions printed during the composer's lifetime
- Baroque violinBaroque violinA baroque violin is, in common usage, any violin whose neck, fingerboard, bridge, and tailpiece are of the type used during the baroque period. Such an instrument may be an original built during the baroque and never changed to modern form; or a modern replica built as a baroque violin; or an...
- Gödel, Escher, BachGödel, Escher, BachGödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid is a book by Douglas Hofstadter, described by his publishing company as "a metaphorical fugue on minds and machines in the spirit of Lewis Carroll"....
- List of compositions of Johann Sebastian Bach
- Perpetuum mobilePerpetuum mobilePerpetuum mobile , moto perpetuo , mouvement perpétuel , movimiento perpetuo , literally meaning "perpetual motion", means two distinct things:#pieces of music, or parts of pieces, characterised by a continuous steady stream of notes, usually at a...
Further reading
- Reinhard Boess: Die Kunst des Raetselkanons im ’musikalischen Opfer’, 1991, 2 vols., ISBN 3-7959-0530-3
External links
- "The Royal Theme's Hidden Symmetry: In Defense of the Concise Solution to the Augmentation Canon in J. S. Bach's 'Musical Offering'", Timothy D. Edwards, BACH: Journal of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute, Vol. 41, No. 1 (2010)http://www.bw.edu/academics/libraries/bach/journal/toc/.
- "Canons of the Musical Offering", Tim Smith's homepage: The Canons and Fugues of J. S. Bach
- "The Musical Offering: A Musical Pedagogical Workshop by J.S. Bach, or The Musical Geometry of Bach's Puzzle Canons" [English], Schillerinstituttet [Danish].
- The Mutopia ProjectMutopia projectThe Mutopia Project is a volunteer-run effort to create a library of free content sheet music, in a way similar to Project Gutenberg's library of public domain books.The music is reproduced from old scores that are out of copyright...
has some of the music of The Musical Offering - "Das Musikalisches Opfer", PianoSociety.com.
- Performance of Trio Sonata by The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln CenterThe Chamber Music Society of Lincoln CenterThe Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center is an American organization dedicated to the performance and promotion of chamber music. Its website states that it is "the nation’s premier repertory company for chamber music."...
from the Isabella Stewart Gardner MuseumIsabella Stewart Gardner MuseumThe Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum or Fenway Court, as the museum was known during Isabella Stewart Gardner's lifetime, is a museum in the Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located within walking distance of the Museum of Fine Arts and near the Back Bay Fens...
in MP3MP3MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
format - Phillips, Tony (March 1, 1999). Feature Column: "Math and the Musical Offering", What's New in Mathematics: American Mathematical Society.
- "Sound Recordings Library: Ars Rediviva - Milan Munclinger: J.S.Bach: The Art of Fugue, Contrapunctus VIII.": FrantišekSláma.com.
- "Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), L'Offrande musicale - 'Musical Offering', 'Musikalisches Opfer' BWV 1079", ClassicalÀlacarte.com.
- "J.S. Bach - Crab Canon on a Möbius Strip", YouTube.com.