Intersection of Two Worlds
The Creation Of J.S. Bach’s
“The Musical Offering”
On May 7th, 1747, Johann Sebastian Bach met with Frederick the Great of Prussia, a meeting which represents the intersection of two very different world views, philosophical views toward religion, politics, and certainly music and the arts.
Johann Sebastian Bach, 1748, holding a copy of the six-part canon BWV 1076[
On that day, after having spent two and a half days on a stage coach accompanied by his oldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, Johann Sebastian Bach, arrived in Potsdam, Germany, outside of Berlin, to the court of Frederick the Great, having been summoned.
Carl Philip Emanuel Bach (CPE Bach) one of JS Bach’s remaining sons, was court harpsichordist, composer and teacher to Frederick the Great, and a significant presence in that court for thirty years. Out of the meeting between JS Bach and Frederick the Great came a magical collection of pieces entitled The Musical Offering.
The set of works that JS Bach composed as a result of this meeting, and having been presented by Frederick the Great with what came to be known as the Royal Theme, is a culmination of the art of contrapuntal composition. These are a wonderful set of ten canons of various types, a four movement trio sonata and two fugal works (a three-voice fugue and a six-voice Ricercare which musicologist, teacher, and deep thinker Charles Rosen has described as the most significant work in the history of keyboard composition).
The series of works that came as a result of this meeting in 1747 literally put the cap on a number of things from JS Bach's point of view. It is one of several large works from Bach’s late period. For instance, JS Bach was working on The Art of Fugue at the time of his passing.
We also have some other larger contrapuntal musings that JS Bach was working on at that time. The idea being that counterpoint from JS Bach's generation and before, tended to be the most meaningful way to gain a sense of understanding, of revealing the grand design of the universe — the inner workings of the universe. Canonic writing seemed to be the purest form of this pursuit towards revealing this grand universal design, going all the way back to the work of mathematician and musician Pythagoras in ancient Greek times. Pythagoras identified the mathematical ratios to describe what he called perfect sounds: The unison, fourth, fifth and octave. And this was very much taken to heart by JS Bach and his generation as well, as opposed to the Enlightenment-inspired thinking and worldview that Frederick the Great certainly espoused.
The Flute Concert of Sanssouci by Adolph Menzel (1852, Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin). Frederick is depicted playing the flute in his music room at Sanssouci as C. P. E. Bach accompanies him on a fortepiano by Gottfried Silbermann.
The idea being that if one can make use of the scientific method, having been one part of this Enlightenment-inspired thinking, one can observe the universe or anything within the universe long enough, meaningfully enough, one can come to understand the workings of the universe simply from meaningful observation.
In musical terms, if music is overly complicated, it tends to alienate. Music should be more accessible immediately, both to the performer and the listener, so that transmission of understanding, feeling and expressiveness can be much more immediate. And so here we have two very different worldviews from a societal standpoint during this time.
It is a a point of departure between pre-Enlightenment social conformity challenged by the oncoming assertion of the individual and certainly the individual artist, the individual thinker, the individual philosopher, painter, musician, what have you. So overall, it was a heady time in music.
We have JS Bach representing, in Frederick's mind, that which was essentially an anachronism and it seems that Frederick the Great had a point to prove when he presented the Royal Theme to JS Bach on his arrival.
JS Bach was asked to improvise a three-voice fugue and so on, and he was happy to do so, but the important aspect of all this is what came several weeks later after he returned home and created an incredible set of compositions, encapsulating the highest form of Baroque counterpoint.
Frederick the Great, Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images
Let's look at Frederick the Great, a very conflicted character; impactful, brilliant, and artistic. His focus was on bringing Enlightenment ideals into rulership, seeing himself as an enlightened despot. He often referred to himself as carrying the weight of responsibility as king on his shoulders, much as Atlas carried the weight of the world on his. Frederick’s rule was based on a lack of reliance on ministers. He felt it was his duty, as did his father before him, essentially to, but much more so with Frederick. to be the sole ruler and sole responsible party within the laws at that time made a number of reforms, agricultural reforms, industrial reforms, freedom of the press to a great degree, and the reforms in terms of social supports.
Frederick the Great took a lot of these Enlightenment-inspired ideals seriously. He created the largest and most significant military in pre-Napoleonic Europe and also expanded Prussia’s territory at that time. He was a very active ruler, having been so terribly treated by his father, Frederick William, during his rule. Frederick the Great brought a lot of that trauma and negative experience into his own rulership from 1740 until his death in 1786. It's also important to note that culture during this time in the Prussian Court for Frederick the Great meant French culture, specifically. Remember that Germany at this time was divided into a number of smaller kingdoms, duchies, etc., and the sway of French philosophy, writers, and politicians was tremendous at this stage.
The History of My Own Times. Frederic II. King of Prussia
Frederick the Great did not speak German. He spoke and wrote in French. In fact his book, The History of My Own Times, written in 1746, was one of the real influential writings during this particular time on the state of politics, the state of life in Europe.
He was a deep philosophical thinker, constantly inviting French philosophers, writers, and other important French diplomats and thinkers to his court in Sanssouci, outside of Berlin, as guests, to debate and discuss topics of the day. So there was a real built-in tension between Frederick the Great and his espousal of French-oriented thinking and culture, and then that which JS Bach represented, which was his generation wanting to find and begin to create some kind of real Germanic musical identity. And that being done primarily through through contrapuntal composition.
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
But there is a third individual in this scenario, which is Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (CPE Bach), who joined First Crown Prince Frederick's Court in 1738. When Frederick became king in 1740, CPE Bach remained in the Prussian court for thirty years and waited seventeen years before getting his first raise in wages, remaining faithful in many ways to the vision of Frederick, but then also sought out a lot of his own opportunities.
Arnold Schoenberg
There is a fascinating article that composer and musical philosopher Arnold Schoenberg wrote in 1950, espousing the idea that it was not Frederick the Great that composed the Royal Theme, but that It was indeed CPE Bach. Whether at the behest of Frederick the Great or on his own, Schoenberg proposed that a trap was set for “Old Bach” during his visit because this is such an unwieldy thematic motive to work with from a contrapuntal standpoint. Schoenberg was convinced that this was a trap set for JS Bach by CPE Bach, who apparently had some issues, mostly philosophical, with his father. The tension between father and son seems to have been significant, with CPE Bach both loving his father and respecting his father's work, but then viewing that body of work with disdain at times. CPE Bach was conflicted between his feelings for his father, but also his strong feelings about Enlightenment-inspired thinking, especially where music is concerned.
CPE Bach ended up composing five flute sonatas for Frederick the Great, and also of more significance, six string symphonies with significant winds parts that Frederick could play himself as a part of the ensemble. Frederick, on the other hand, composed 121 flute sonatas and four flute concerti and four books of flute exercises (Solfeggi).
Johann Quantz painted by Francesco Solimena in1725
The composer and flutist Johan Quantz was at the court of Frederick, so there's a lot of speculation as to how much assistance Quantz provided in terms of filling out a lot of these compositions, but nonetheless, it goes to show Frederick's dedication, his devotion towards his own flute playing, his own music making, but also Enlightenment-inspired composition of the time in the Galant style. CPE Bach, as a composer, was writing in the Galant style. However, especially with his keyboard writing, CPE Bach came to be known as the founder of the Empfindsamer Stil, a sensitive or expressive style of playing.
The following video contains my lecture as well as musical performances to illustrate my research. I'm joined by my friends and colleagues, Caroline Pittman, flute, and Veronica Kolegas, cello.
Please use the comment section of my YouTube channel to let me know what you're interested in and I will be more than happy to do a little musical exploration for you and create some video content based on your interest!
— Rick Ferguson
This video includes the following performances:
Frederick the Great
Flute Sonata in E Minor SpiF 154 Mvt. 1 - Grave
Flute Sonata in E Minor SpiF 154 Mvt. 2 - Allegro assai
Flute Sonata in E Minor SpiF 154 Mvt. 3 - Presto
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Piano Sonata in G Minor W. 65/11 Mvt. 2 - Andante
Piano Sonata in G Minor W. 65/11 Mvt. 3 - Cantabile
JS Bach
"Crab" Canon from The Musical Offering BWV 1079
Endless Canon on a Royal Theme from The Musical Offering BWV 1079
Canon at the 5th from The Musical Offering BWV 1079