Francesco Pasquale Ricci (1732–1817), from Como in northern Italy, worked both in London and at the Hague in the 1770s. He shared a patron in Milan with the one-time organist of the Milan cathedral, J. C. Bach, and probably knew Bach in London. Bach was already deceased when, circa 1788, there appeared in Paris the following book:

Methode ou Recueil
De Connoissances Elementaires pour le Forte-Piano our Clavecin
Œuvre Melé de Theorie et de Pratique
Divisé en deux Parties
Composé Pour le Conservatoire de Naple
Par J.C. Bach et F. P. Ricci.

The Fuga alla breve appears at the end of Part I, suggesting that it serves as the capstone of the “basic course.” This fugue may represent the type of texture expected for partimento fugues, which is to say a predominantly thin texture with additional voices inserted for sequences and cadences. The deep bass near the end may indicate performance on either an organ or a forte-piano fitted with pedals. Part II of the “Methode ou Recueil” follows with a selection of more idiomatic and advanced keyboard works in the “sensitive” style. Their true origin, however, was as “test pieces” written by Bach’s brother C. P. E. Bach.

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