 The collection was dedicated to Haydn, whom Reicha knew since the early 1790s, and included a dedicatory poem by Reicha, in French and German.The fugues were preceded by extensive textual notes, in which Reicha defended his methods, particularly polyrhythm, for which he cites numerous examples from traditional music of Switzerland, Alsace, Greece and western France around the Bay of Biscay.The second edition was published in Vienna in 1805 and included a short theoretical text, "Über das neue Fugensystem", in which Reicha explains the theoretical basis of the fugues in form of a polemic against the numerous opponents of his ideas.