Johann Sebastian Bach (31 March [O.S. 21 March] 1685 – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites and Brandenburg Concertos; keyboard works such as the Goldberg Variations, The Well-Tempered Clavier and the Toccata and Fugue in D minor; and vocal music such as the St Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor. Since the 19th-century Bach Revival, he has been generally regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music.
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Ricerar a 6 voci from Musikalisches Opfer, BWV 1079 (1747)
arranged by Anton Webern (1883-1945) for orchestra (1934)
Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Essa-Pekka Salonen
The Musical Offering is filled with musical riddles and theological symbolism. The ten canons are an allusion to the Ten Commandments. Canon No. 9 bears the inscription, Quaerendo invenietis (“Seek and ye shall find” from the biblical Sermon on the Mount. The two fugues are given the title, Ricercar, a type of improvisatory composition originating in the late Renaissance which means, literally, to “seek out” the possibilities of a piece in terms of key or mode. The first letters of each word in Bach’s title for the collection, Regis Iussu Cantio Et Reliqua Canonica Arte Resoluta (the theme given by the king, with additions, resolved in canonic style) spell out Ricercar. Perhaps Frederick the Great, seduced by the styles of the times, failed to fully appreciate Bach’s collection. In reality, the aging composer’s timeless “offering” was meant for God and posterity.
Arnold Schoenberg believed that Frederick the Great may have presented the theme to Bach as a practical joke. He may have believed that it would be impossible, even for Bach, to build a six-voice fugue on such a theme. While the Ricercar a 3 flirts with the gallant style, Ricercar a 6 represents the grand summit of polyphony.
Bach’s score does not specify what instruments should play this music. In 1934, Anton Webern orchestrated the Ricercar a 6 for a chamber orchestra which included strings, solo winds, harp, and timpani. Through a technique he called Klangfarbenmelodie (“tone-color melody”), Webern transforms Bach’s fugue into technicolor. At times, a single melodic line alternates between a variety of instrumental voices. We hear each line with renewed clarity.
