About this edition
Composed in 1747 following Bach's legendary meeting with Frederick the Great at Potsdam, the Musikalisches Opfer (Musical Offering), BWV 1079, stands as one of the most ingenious contrapuntal achievements in Western music. Built entirely upon the famously chromatic "royal theme" supplied by the King, the collection assembles a ricercar in three voices, a ricercar in six voices, a trio sonata for flute, violin, and continuo, and ten canons of dazzling intellectual invention — including the celebrated "crab" canon and the spiraling canon per tonos. It is at once a personal homage, a treatise on counterpoint, and a profound meditation on the possibilities latent in a single musical idea.
This volume reproduces the authoritative edition prepared by Alfred Dörffel (1821–1905) for the monumental Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe, published by Breitkopf und Härtel in Leipzig as Band 31.2 in 1885 (plate B.W. XXXI(2)). The Bach-Gesellschaft edition, undertaken over nearly half a century by leading nineteenth-century Bach scholars, was the first complete critical edition of the composer's works and remains a foundational text in Bach scholarship. Dörffel — a respected musicologist, librarian of the Leipzig Stadtbibliothek, and longtime collaborator on the Gesellschaft project — brought meticulous editorial judgment to this complex score, including the careful realization of Bach's puzzle canons.
About this edition:
- Full score for the complete Musical Offering, BWV 1079
- Page size: 8.5 x 11 inches, formatted for clear readability
- Faithfully reproduced from the 1885 Bach-Gesellschaft edition
- Sourced from a public domain historical edition
- Published by Purple 4R Publishing
We're delighted to make this historic edition available in a fresh, affordable printing. Because the original Bach-Gesellschaft score has long been in the public domain, conductors, performers, students, and scholars can enjoy a beautifully presented copy of one of Bach's most extraordinary creations — ready for the study, the stand, or the library shelf.
