The Musical Offering: Ricercar a 3

In May 1747, King Frederick the Great of Prussia presented Bach with an interesting musical challenge: to compose a fugue based on a simple musical theme. From this challenge came The Musical Offering, a monumental composition based on Frederick the Great’s theme. In addition to ten canons and four-movement trio sonata, The Musical Offering includes two multi-voice ricercars or fugues. The second movement Ricercar a 3 is a fugue for three voices that is thought to be a recreation of the improvisation Bach played for the King when first presented with this daring challenge.