This delightful tribute to one of Honegger's favorite composers, Bach, is in three short movements. The first consists of the kind of rapid strings of arpegiated chords that Bach utilized so well in many of the preludes of his suites and partitias.

This leads directly into the Arioso melody of which bears an uncanny resemblance to "My Funny Valentine". The final movement is typical of Honegger's fugal writing. Although the technical challenges of the form are met, the music seems to be about much more than just theory. In this way Honegger also pays tribute to Bach whose fugues were usually gripping dramas.

The work is based on Bach's own motto which is, in the German form of solfege, B flat-A-C-B natural. The piece was premiered in 1932.



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