Goldberg Variations
The Goldberg Variations (BWV 988) is a work for keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach. It was written about 1741. The work consists of an aria and thirty variations. The aria was not original with Bach, but was probably based on a now lost French dance tune. The work is believed to have been commissioned by a pupil of Bach's named J. G. Goldberg. Goldberg was a celebrated virtuoso, and used the work to lull his insomniac employer Count Keyserkingk to sleep.[1]
The basic harmonies and structure of the aria remain consistent from variation to variation. The work ends with a quodlibet, a humorous combination of two popular tunes. John Keillor writes, "The work is sublime and compassionate, graceful, warm, and relentlessly intricate, a demonstration of unmatched craft in music history and genuine, poetic imagination." In modern times, the work is played on both the harpsichord and the piano.
Goldberg Variations Media
Title page of the Goldberg Variations (first edition)
Musical quotation from Goldberg Variations (Aria) by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750). Made using Sibelius 4 by Jashiin. The music quoted is in the public domain, and the image is hereby released into the public domain by Jashiin (version 2, errors in bars 5-6 fixed).
First 8 bars of the fourth variation.
First four bars of Variation 5.
First 4 bars of the seventh variation.
The first section of Variation 10.
The final two bars of the first section of Variation 13.
First 2 bars of variation 20.
The first three bars of Variation 21
The first four bars of Variation 23
Notes
- ↑ Woodstra, p. 47
References
- Woodstra, Chris, et. al. 2005. All Music Guide to Classical Music. All Music Guide, LLC. ISBN 0-87930-865-6.
