Bach’s visit to the Frederick the Great in 1747, the meeting that inspired the much-loved Musical Offering, has now become part of a legend. Frederick presented Bach with a chromatic theme composed by the Emperor himself and challenged Bach to extemporise a fugue on the spot using that subject.

According to press reports from that time, the resulting improvisation astonished and moved the enlightened Frederick and all who heard it. On his return home, Bach wrote the famous ‘Musical Offering’ a complete set of pieces using the Royal theme and dedicated to Frederick the Great.