Offertorium

Offertorium was written for Gidon Kremer, who had asked Gubaidulina for a violin concerto and championed it abroad at a time when her music was blocked at home; he gave the premiere in Vienna on 30 May 1981. Its material is the Royal Theme from Bach's Musical Offering, taken in Webern's orchestration: the theme is stated and then dismantled note by note across the work, disappearing before it returns in retrograde, harmonised as a chorale. Gubaidulina revised the score twice, in 1982 and 1986. The title refers to sacrifice, which is the piece's structural principle.