Bach's cryptic work with guest presenter Jonathan Biggins
Madeleine Easton - Director
Jonathan Biggins - Guest Presenter

Musicologists and audiences alike have long been fascinated by Bach's Musical Offering. Guest presenter Jonathan Biggins takes up the story of one of his last and greatest instrumental works: “Its 16 movements are based on a theme given to Bach by Frederick the Great during a visit to the Prussian court in Potsdam. Frederick was a musician and composer of some skill as well as an avid collector of talent. He had been badgering his chief keyboard player, Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, to lure his father to Potsdam for a visit for several years - until finally the "old Bach", as he was by then known, could no longer politely resist. Bach was then 62 years old, only three years from his death. Subsequently, the long trip from Leipzig would be his last journey, and would inspire one of the greatest works of all time”.