J.S. Bach's Musical Offering is a staple of Baroque music, full of musical riddles and mysteries.
Composed near the end of Bach's life for Frederick the Great (or King Frederick II of Prussia), the Musical Offering contains ten canons, two ricercars and a trio sonata.
All of these pieces are based on the same theme, which Bach called "Regis Iussu Cantio Et Reliqua Canonica Arte Resoluta" ("the theme given by the king, with additions, resolved in the canonic style").
It's usually just called the Royal Theme for short.
Other than the trio sonata, which is for flute, violin and basso continuo, Bach didn't specify which instruments are supposed to play the other parts of this piece. That leaves musicians and ensembles many options for interpreting the piece.
This weekend, Interlochen Arts Camp music faculty member and harpsichordist Alexandra Snyder Dunbar will perform selections from Bach's Musical Offering at the Music House Museum in Williamsburg. She'll be bringing her own harpsichord to the museum for the performance.
The recital also includes Interlochen Arts Camp faculty musicians Ara Sarkissian (violin), Erika Boysen (flute) and Eli Lara (cello).
Snyder Dunbar and colleagues will perform Saturday, July 11 at 7 p.m. at the Music House Museum.
Snyder Dunbar visited Classical IPR during The Well-Tempered Commute to discuss this weekend's program.
She brought along her portable electronic harpsichord to demonstrate some of the musical themes. She also explained some of the ways Bach used the main musical theme creatively throughout the piece, like in the famous "Crab Canon" (Canon 1 a 2 cancrizans).
Listen back to her conversation with IPR using the "play" button in this post.
