Bach: L’Offrande musicale

A king composed the theme. Bach did the rest. Frederick the Great of Prussia wasn't only a king – he was a keen musician, and in 1747 he challenged Bach to improvise a fugue on a theme he’d written himself. Bach obliged, on the spot. Then he went home, turned that single royal theme into an entire collection of fugues, canons and a trio sonata, and sent it back to Frederick as a «modest musical offering». Part intellectual flex, part act of devotion, and one of the most extraordinary things Bach ever wrote. The Academy of Ancient Music perform it on period instruments, where every detail shines.