Channel: Netherlands Bach Society

Category: Music

Tags: musical offeringnetherlands bach societychamber musicfrederick the greatshunske satomieneke van der veldenbachcontrario motucanonjohann sebastian bachconcertgebouw amsterdamcanon a 2 per augmentationem contrario motuj s bachbachverenigingroyal thememusikalisches opferviola da gambaper augmentationemviolinfriedrich iifrederik de grotekingkanonnederlandse bachverenigingbwv 1079all of bachcanon a 2

Description: The Musikalisches Opfer is a special collection of chamber music within the work of Johann Sebastian Bach, written for Frederick the Great of Prussia. Musikalisches Opfer means ‘a musical offering’, and that is precisely how the collection originated. In May 1747, Bach was introduced to Frederick, who had heard that Bach was a great improviser and asked him on the spot to improvise a fugue on a given theme. According to the sources, Bach made a brilliant job of it and showed such enthusiasm about the ‘royal theme’ that he promised to have the fugue engraved ‘on copper’ and printed. No sooner said than done. Two months later, Bach published a series of compositions: a trio sonata, a three-part and a six-part ricercar and ten canons, all inspired by the king’s theme. The canons in the Musikalisches Opfer are a sort of visual music. Bach wrote them like puzzles, which the player must first solve in order to play them correctly. In these recordings, we wanted to give a literal picture of this ‘visual music’. So for example, wherever a part is doubled, the player will be in view twice. And where a part is mirrored, then the player appears in a mirror too. In the luxury edition Bach had printed for Frederick the Great, this 'Canon a 2 per Augmentationem, contrario Motu' is accompanied by the words ‘Notulis crescentibus crescat Fortuna Regis’, which is literally translated as ‘may the fortunes of the king increase like the length of the notes’. The piece is notated on two staves. The upper part plays an ornamented version of the royal theme. The other part has a counterpart that can be played in two ways: with the note values as they are written, or else with longer (increased) note values (augmentation) and mirrored. Furthermore, the player (in this case the gambist) not only has to augment the notes, but also to mirror them. So where the original part takes a step down, the other part does precisely the opposite. Recorded for the project All of Bach on July 7th 2020 at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam. If you want to help us complete All of Bach, please subscribe to our channel bit.ly/2vhCeFB and consider donating bit.ly/2uZuMj5. We thank MWH4impact foundation for their generous support of this recording. MWH4impact aims to achieve social and cultural impact and joins the Netherlands Bach Society in their mission Bach for All. This version of the Musikalisches Opfer demonstrates the impact of innovation on our musical experience. It’s a work of art that matches the goals of MWH4impact. For the complete playlist of the Musikalisches Opfer BWV 1079 go to bit.ly/2Zq09pk For more information on BWV 1079 and this production go to allofbach.com/en/bwv/bwv-1079-7 All of Bach is a project of the Netherlands Bach Society / Nederlandse Bachvereniging, offering high-quality film recordings of the works by Johann Sebastian Bach, performed by the Netherlands Bach Society and its guest musicians. Visit our free online treasury for more videos and background material bachvereniging.nl/en/allofbach. For concert dates and further information go to bachvereniging.nl/nederlandse-bachvereniging. Shunske Sato, violin Mieneke van der Velden, viola da gamba