The story of how the composition of this work came to pass is well-known and frequently documented: Bach's encounter with Frederick the Great and the story of the 'royal theme' which the King of Prussia 'deigned to play' on a pianoforte and which Bach 'was to execute in a fugue'.The sequence of the individual movements of the composition, however, has been uncertain up to now. After an extensive theoretical examination of this problem in his book 'Johann Sebastian Bachs Musicalisches Opfer', the editor now presents his results in the form of a clothbound volume. The corresponding set of parts is also available (ED 20525).