Bach wrote his fifth Brandenburg Concerto for harpsichord, flute and violin as soloists, and an orchestral accompaniment consisting of strings and continuo. The concerto’s second movement, exceptional for a slow movement in Bach’s concerto output, is a pure concerto form, consisting of a regularly returning ritornello and evenly distributed episodes, without the experimentation of the concerto’s outer movements.

The Musical Offering is a collection of keyboard canons and fugues and other pieces of music by Bach, all based on a single musical theme given to him by Frederick the Great (King Frederick II of Prussia), to whom they are dedicated.