JS Bach Ricercar a 6

The Ricercar a 6, one of Bach's greatest keyboard works is likely to be most often heard by listeners in versions for chamber orchestra string , sextet et or chamber orchestra or even the full blown version for orchestra by Webern or on the organ . not on the newly developing keyboard instrument the "Forte and Pano"for which it was conceived; the early version of our modern piano.
The work was occasioned by Bach's famous encounter with Frederick the Great , of Prussia in May 1747.
,Frederick a keen player of the flute and composer as well as brilliant military Commander had developed a passionate interest in this new keyboard instrument being developed at the time called the " Forte and Piano: .He had 15 of these instruments in his Palace in Potsdam and was keen to show them to Bach and hear them played by him.
After going around the palace and playing them all, in the custom of the day Bach asked the monarch if he would give him a theme subject on which to improvise a fugue.

Frederick was obviously hoping for this. He had prepared" a theme of 19 notes , unusually long for a fugue. It contained a string of 9 descending half tones which made it extremely difficult to manipulate in fugal writing..
Bach improvised a superb three voice Fugue "Ricercar a 3" on the theme to the amazement of all who heard it.
Frederick then asked if such a feat could be done in 6 voices. Bach replied it would be possible but to improvise it would be an extremely demanding task: he would prefer to compose one.
He then improvised a few bars of 6 voice writing on the instrument to show how textures could be laid out on the keyboard..for 2 hands.
. Since the king's question would be widely viewed as a command or even a challenge to him Bach ducked it brilliantly by his bluntness!
. Frederick may have been genuine or he could have been exercising his tendency to enjoy insulting distinguished people : one of his less attractive traits.
He was35 years old and Bach was 62.
Bach composed the Ricercar a 6 as promised and sent it to the king as the main work along with a collection of several other pieces all based on his majesty's theme under the title "The Musical Offering." The manuscript setting it out on two staves leaves no doubt it was conceived for keyboard: not only this new one but it was of course possible on harpsichord ,organ, clavichord, . But it was the new "forte e piano' instrument , that was in his mind with its new enabling of dynamics and tonal suppleness.

A "Ricercar is a very early severe type of ' learned' fugue without countersubjects, and other various devices: stretti etc that later evolved and became common as the fugue developed.
The overall shape of this 6 voiced one is very clear and straightforward.
In the opening each voice enters in turn in the usual fugal practice till all 6 are in play. this leads to a climax in the key of E flat major, the relative major of c minor.
In the second part the theme appear again once in each voice but in a wide remarkable range of different keys. These entries are separated by longer episodes: passages based always entirely on various aspects of the theme.
it is these modulations through several different keys with their extraordinary harmonic richness and the superb part writing, ' all playable by 2 hands that give the work such grandeur.

It seems likely the majority of listeners who hear this work in a version for string sextet, or string orchestra setting or even the full orchestra treatment by Anton Webern may be unaware of its role as the first great masterpiece for piano..
Bach had expressed reservations at the weakness of the new instrument's treble and found the action too heavy. but it inspired him to give it this first great masterpiece. There is a plangency in the royal theme.The work has the the power and nobility of a profound lament:
A matchless foundation for the entire literature of the piano... It was written for the "forte e piano'
by J S Bach
Nigel Coxe
21 May 2021