Frederick the Great wrote an incredibly strange and difficult melody (first 20 seconds) then challenged Bach to write a 6 part fugue based on it. This was the result. To give an idea of the difficulty, Beethoven struggled his entire life to write even a decent 3 part fugue.

Other things Bach did with “The Royal Melody”

A relaxing piano song just for you

It’s an incredible piece, but Bach has far greater works outside the pure “puzzles” like this! Also, to say Beethoven “struggled” sounds as if he were just trying to write great fugues, but he was innovating new forms (and could still use counterpoint quite well when he wanted!)

100%. Posted more for the interesting story of two of the greatest minds that have ever lived collaborating on something technically difficult. Music in many way is math incarnate. This showcases that aspect of it more than the beauty, although both are present.

thanks for posting, this was great

I really want to find a way to get more people into classical music. Once you wrap your head around it, even a little bit, it’s mind blowing.

i've long said that I believe J.S. Bach was likely one of the most intelligent people to ever live. He certainly rivaled any of the great computational minds and still managed to master the arts, a rare feat.

Beethoven's fugues are fantastic, and nobody held a gun to his head.

They got there but he had to work very hard to get to that point. It didn’t come naturally.