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«If I decide to be an idiot, then I will be an idiot on my own initiative.» (Johann Sebastian Bach)
Bach composed the "Das musikalische opfer (BWV 1079)" in 1747, and as in the "Kunst der fuge" (The Art of Fugue), not all the instruments involved in the performance are specified. Certain, because they are reported on the score, are: the harpsichord, the flute, and two violins. The order of the various pieces is also not certain as Bach revised the work multiple times. What is certain is that we are faced with one of the greatest and most intense works of the German Master and of music as a whole, and it is also one of the most mysterious, dark, and arcane musical compositions.
It is important to remember that the work is based on a musical theme conceived by King Frederick II of Prussia, an amateur musician and great admirer of Bach, at whose court Johann's son, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, performed as a harpsichordist. The king persistently requested a meeting with the famous father. The meeting took place, and from there the first seeds of this timeless masterpiece were planted. "The Musical Offering" is composed of ten canons, two ricercari, and a sonata (divided into four movements).
The work, after the "Ricercar a 3" (an exposition of an improvised fugue), opens with "Canones diversi super Thema Regium" where we find the most intellectual Bach, a lover of logical and mathematical games, and the most virtuosic and complex Bach. The musical architecture is harmonious and of immense formal control: development of the theme, reversal of the same, fugues, and counterpoints follow one another in a truly surprising fluidity of musical discourse, never abandoning or straying from the thematic center. The whole is a continuous play of references that alludes to an eternal return, just as occurs in the subsequent Bachian pinnacle, such as the "Kunst der fuge" (a very close relative, precisely, not only for the reasons of incompleteness hinted at the beginning). The canons are undoubtedly the most enigmatic part of the entire work.
Also very interesting is the church piece "Sonata sopra'il soggetto reale" (or "Sonata for flute, violin, and continuo") imbued with multiple melodic cues, where the flute leads in a meditative chamber sonata in four movements.
To masterfully close the work, an articulated fugue is inserted: "Ricercar a 6", a very elaborate page of clear tenderness, where again the exploration of the infinite, so dear to the composer, returns.
I find Bach to be a musician always current, to understand his absolute contemporaneity, consider that this last page was revisited by one of the most innovative composers of the 20th century, namely Anton Webern.
In short, the "Das musikalische opfer" is a monumental and inexhaustible work that renews itself with every listening.
I close the review with the words of Pier Paolo Pasolini dedicated to the supreme Master: «[...]for me, Bach's music is music itself, music absolute.»
The versions I love are, in order of preference, those by Musica Antiqua Köln directed by Reinhard Goebel, and that of Jordi Savall with Les Concert des Nations (which also contains the version for solo harpsichord as well as the ensemble version of the "Ricercar a 6"). The recent interpretation (with a different sequence of pieces) by Jed Wentz and Michael Borgstede is also very interesting. These are all versions strictly with period instruments.
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P.S.: The review was written not only because it is one of my absolute favorite works, but also to mark my first year here on DeBaser.
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