Johann Sebastian Bach's "Musica Offering" is indivisibly linked with the personality of Frederick the Great, and numerous, contradictory reports have been handed down to us in connection with the great composer and the great monarch. Some emphasize the King's knowledge of music and his great respect for Bach the musician; some endeavour to prove the contrary. The few available contemporary documents referring to the meeting between these two outstanding personalities unfortunately permit of both interpretations and have consequently given rise to conflicting stories.
"The Spener'sche Zeitung" of May 11, 1747, writes: "We hear from Potsdam that the fameus Leipzig conductor, Mr. Bach, arrived there last Sunday (May 4th) for the purpose of listening to the excellent royal chamber music That evening, when the musicians were playing in the royal apartments, His Majesty was inforrned at Bach's arrival and that the conductor was waiting in the hall, requesting permission to listen to the music. His Majesty immediately told his servants to invite Mr. Bach to join them. In Bach's presence His Majesty sat down at the pianoforte and, without more ado, played a theme which he requested Bach to elaborate into a fugue. Bach complied in such a skilful way that not only was His Majesty highly pleased but the entire audience was also greatly amazed. Bach was so taken by the beauty of the theme that he wished to make a regular fugue of it and have it engraved. On Monday (May 8th) the famous man's organ playing at Trinity Church, Potsdam, aroused general admiration. That same evening His Majesty requested him to work out a six-part fugue, a task he again fulfilled with the greatest skill." On July 7, 1747, Bach sent his work to the King with a dedication to the follnwlng effect. "In deep devotion I herewith dedicate to your Majesty a musical offering, the best part of which originates from your own hand. With respectful pleasure I remember Your Majesty's favour shown to rne on the occasion of my visit at Potsdam, in playing a theme on the pianotorte to me with the order to externporize it into a fugue. To rneet Your Majesty's wish was my bounden duty. I soon realized, however, that - unprepared as I was - the execution did not do full justice to the excellent theme. l therelore made up my mind to perfect and publish the fugue on this royal theme. In doing so I had no other intention than to glorify the fame of a monarch - be it only in a small matter - whose greatness and strenght, both in strategy and science, particularly in music, should be admired and honoured by all. May it please Your Majesty to kindly accept this work and extend your bounty to Your Majesty’s most obedient servant, the composer."
We are sorry to say that there is no trace of the King's bounty or thanks, nor are there any notes in the "files" of the Prussian archives intimating that Bach ever received any payment or reward for this composition. Assuming that it is unlikely that records have been lost, we can only take it for granted that the King was not interested in this work at all.
The King, however. actually left the presentation copy at the "Musical Offering“ to his sister, Princess Amalia, and it is still in such excellent condition that it hardly can have been used. In addition, it is surprising to learn of a conversation between the King and G. van Swieten in 1774. "Frederick, with a loud voice, recited the theme of a chromatic fugue which he had commanded the old Bach to extemporize", the Baron reports in his "Talks with Frederick the Greet". This means that nearly 30 years later, Bach's visit to Potsdam had not been forgotten!
Moreover, the King's compositions include a sonata, the last movement of  which contains the elaboration of the following theme:
In this a proof of the deep impression Bach's work made on Frederick on that memorable evening at Potsdam? Or did the King just happen lo choose this "most wonderful” theme from one of his compositions in order to put Bach's talent to the test?
Irrespective of whether the panegyrical biographers come closer to the truth than those who wish to prove that the King was quite incapable of appreciating Bach's genius, one thing is absolutely certain - Frederick the Great was extremely musical.
In E. L. Gerber's Lexicon of 1799 we read: "... in his early youth he began to study the piano with the organist of Berlin cathedral Heine, but soon showed a preference for the flute... unfortunately the King, his father, had explicitly forbidden him to devote too much time to music... it frequently came to pass therefore that the Prince, ostensibly out hunting, devoted himself to his musical studies and managed to arrange concerts in the woods or other. out-of-the-way places... all his life he never broke with his habit oi practising or listening to music every day. And even when engaged on one of his campaigns, at least one flautist accompanied him. Conductor Reichardt mentions that the King used to play the flute at least live times a day.
In the early morning he played the solfegii by Quantz... after the audience of his cabinet ministers, he seized his flute again to cheer himself up... after dining, the flute was his invariable companion and in his younger years, he usually played six solos or concerts during the evening chamber concerts. Later on, however, he restricted this number to three. He never gave these recitals without some rehearsal, and his musicians were often compelled to wait outside listening, while he practised difficult passages.
During the Seven Year's War music life in Berlin carne to a standstill, although the King himself never abandoned his music studies. During those dreadful years in Leipzig, he ordered some of his Potsdam musicians to join him, and together with the Thomaskantor, Harrer, who played the pianoforte, the King continued his chamber concerts at Apeli House.
When Frederick returned to Berlin at the end of the war in 1763, staying first in Charlottenburg, he ordered the royal orchestra to perform Graun's Te Deum in the Charlottenburg Court chapel. The organ is reported to have been badly damaged by the Russians and its repair was a matter of several weeks. The King refused to wait until this work was completed and ordered his musicians to perform the Te Deum without organ. Everyone expected that the entire court would be in attendance. The King, however, came alone, sat down in a corner and gave the sign to start. The musicians were deeply moved when they saw tears roll down the King's cheeks at some of the most beautiful passages. After the performance, the King bowed to his musicians and left the chapel in silence...
During the last Bavarian campaign, the King, alter having left Berlin, very rarely played the flute, although he took an accompanist with him to Silesia. He had lost one of his front teeth and his hands were becoming more and more afflicted with gout. His efforts to seek relaxation in his flute, however, were in vain. Lips and hands were no longer equal to their task. When he returned to Potsdam. he ordered his flutes and music to be placed in storage and, deeply moved, said to his old first violinist Benda: "My dear Benda, I have lost my best friendl“ He died shortly afterwards.
In view of the Kings obvious great love of music, is there any justification for contemporary discussions as to wether he was able to understand counterpoint or not?
The "Musical Offering” itself is an excellent topic for discussion. It is a typical Baroque work with very few indications in the score as to how it should be performed. Only in three of the thirteen pieces (Canon no. 2 and the Trio sonata with the subsequent Canon perpetuus), does Bach give any hints to pertorrning musicians.
The consequences are obvious: no two of the many editions and performances resemble each other, starting off with that given by K. F. Zelter. who arranged the 6-part Ricercare for a string ensemble performance at the Berlin Singakademie in 1808, up to many editions met with today.
No one can be certain therefore, that the scoring he employs is the correct one. In Bach's time, it was customary for the composer to hand his work over to the public without any directions in the matter of orchestration, even going so far as to state in the title or introduction, that the musicians should enjoy full freedom in this respect. He who chose the best instrument and the best musicians available could be certain of the composer's approval.
The fact that the 6-part Ricercare is one of the greatest fugues for the pianoforte was well-known in the 18-th century, but subsequently forgotten. When copying the work, J. Ch. Oley (d. 1789}, who was probably one ol Bach's pupils, classified it without hesitation as one of Bach's piano compositions.
Later, when musicians were spoiled by playing nothing else but music in the "galant" style, pianists had "doubts about the possibility of performing faultlessly“ even the 3-part Ricercare (Leipzig, Allgerneine Musikalische Zeitung, Vol. XXXIV, 1832) and endeavoured to simplify the performance of Bach's works. The music reviewer of this paper suggested that the 3-part Ricercare should be played by two pianists "in order to perform with 3 or 4 hands without complicated fingering, that which could normally only be played with 2 hands by a virtuoso". With great admiration he speaks at an experiment by two famous artists (brothers) “performing the 6-part Ricercare - that most wonderful, artistic fugue - on the organ with 4 hands and obligatory pedal". This experiment may have been the beginning of all those numerous arrangements which actually go so far as to use instruments which did not even exist in Bach's time! The opinion is steadily gaining ground, however, that the 6-part Ricercare was originally composed for harpsichord.
Scepties, however, may consider the following: of the entire "Musical Offering“ only the 6-part Ricercare has been left to posterity in manuscript forrn. Like all the fugues in the "Well-tempered clavier" and Bach's other compositions for this instrument, two notation systems were used tor the 6-part Ricercare. This form of notation merely facilitates the reading of the different parts, as is the case in "The art of fugue“. In addition, the distribution of the parts is always adapted to the span of two hands. Had Bach not been restricted to this instrument, he would hardly have taken this trouble.
Besides, one should never forget that the work was dedicated to a flautist, an amateur who actually derived more pleasure from performing than from listening to music. Bach took this fact into account and expressly wrote one part for flute in his grand sonata.
Shouldn't we, too, give preference to the flute wherever possible? And first and foremost, let us be modest when considering Bach and his art, and admit that we are all amateurs. We should relrain from analyzing this work, or else we may achieve similar results to the man who wrote: "Logic or illogicalness of the 'Linienführung' determine the value or worthlessness of a composition, this being particularly applicable ta fugues. The 6-part Ricercare in the 'Musical Offering‘ cannot be considered a happy solution." (From an article in a Bach annual entitled "Zur Fugentechnik Bachs”).
Anton Bruckner, however, knew better when he declared: "Counterpoint is not genius." It is a technique, a means of expression, a servant in the great realm of music.
The ideal listener is the one who can simply enjoy music. We can never grasp the beauty of the "Musical Offering” by counting, multiplying and dividing the bars, iust as a mineralogist may never perhaps be able to appreciate the grandeur of a mountain. He who wishes to study, should first assimilate the vital beauty of this music and then start to analyze.

Only old Italian string instruments of the Amati school were used in this recording. Any changes and modernizations effected in the course of time were carefully ramoved and the original sound character restored. The flute is a conical wood instrument with ring-stop mechanism, manufactured by G. M. Bürger, Strasbourg, abou 1840.