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Goldberg Variations



 
 


The Goldberg Variations, BWV
BWV

The Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis is the numbering system identifying compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach. The prefix BWV, followed by the work's number now is the shorthand identification for Bach's compositions....
 988, are a set of an aria and 30 variations
Variation (music)

In music, variation is a formal technique where material is altered during repetition: reiteration with changes. The changes may involve harmony, melody, counterpoint, rhythm, timbre or orchestration....
 for harpsichord
Harpsichord

A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when each Key is pressed....
 by Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and organ whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque music period and brought it to its ultimate maturity....
. First published in 1741 as the fourth in a series Bach called Clavier-Übung, "keyboard practice", the work is considered to be one of the most important examples of variation
Variation (music)

In music, variation is a formal technique where material is altered during repetition: reiteration with changes. The changes may involve harmony, melody, counterpoint, rhythm, timbre or orchestration....
 form.






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Goldberg Titlepage


The Goldberg Variations, BWV
BWV

The Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis is the numbering system identifying compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach. The prefix BWV, followed by the work's number now is the shorthand identification for Bach's compositions....
 988, are a set of an aria and 30 variations
Variation (music)

In music, variation is a formal technique where material is altered during repetition: reiteration with changes. The changes may involve harmony, melody, counterpoint, rhythm, timbre or orchestration....
 for harpsichord
Harpsichord

A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when each Key is pressed....
 by Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and organ whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque music period and brought it to its ultimate maturity....
. First published in 1741 as the fourth in a series Bach called Clavier-Übung, "keyboard practice", the work is considered to be one of the most important examples of variation
Variation (music)

In music, variation is a formal technique where material is altered during repetition: reiteration with changes. The changes may involve harmony, melody, counterpoint, rhythm, timbre or orchestration....
 form. It is named after Johann Gottlieb Goldberg
Johann Gottlieb Goldberg

Johann Gottlieb Goldberg was a History of Germany#Holy Roman Empire virtuoso harpsichordist, organ , and composer of the late Baroque music and early Classical music era period....
, who may have been the first performer.

Composition


The tale of how the variations came to be composed comes from an early biography of Bach by Johann Nikolaus Forkel
Johann Nikolaus Forkel

Johann Nikolaus Forkel , was a Germany musician, musicologist and music theory....
:

[For this work] we have to thank the instigation of the former Russian ambassador to the electoral court of Saxony
Saxony

The Free State of Saxony is a States of Germany of Germany. Located in the southeastern part of present-day Germany. It is the tenth-largest German state in area and the sixth largest in population , of Germany's sixteen states....
, Count Kaiserling, who often stopped in Leipzig
Leipzig

Leipzig is, with a population of over 511,252, the largest city in the States of Germany of Saxony, Germany....
 and brought there with him the aforementioned Goldberg, in order to have him given musical instruction by Bach. The Count was often ill and had sleepless nights. At such times, Goldberg, who lived in his house, had to spend the night in an antechamber, so as to play for him during his insomnia
Insomnia

Insomnia is a symptom of a sleep disorder characterized by persistent difficulty falling sleep or staying asleep despite the opportunity. Insomnia is a symptom, not a stand-alone diagnosis or a disease....
. ... Once the Count mentioned in Bach's presence that he would like to have some clavier
Keyboard instrument

A keyboard instrument is any musical instrument played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include various types of organ s as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic musical instrument....
 pieces for Goldberg, which should be of such a smooth and somewhat lively character that he might be a little cheered up by them in his sleepless nights. Bach thought himself best able to fulfill this wish by means of Variations, the writing of which he had until then considered an ungrateful task on account of the repeatedly similar harmonic foundation. But since at this time all his works were already models of art, such also these variations became under his hand. Yet he produced only a single work of this kind. Thereafter the Count always called them his variations. He never tired of them, and for a long time sleepless nights meant: 'Dear Goldberg, do play me one of my variations.' Bach was perhaps never so rewarded for one of his works as for this. The Count presented him with a golden goblet filled with 100 louis-d'or. Nevertheless, even had the gift been a thousand times larger, their artistic value would not yet have been paid for.


Forkel wrote his biography in 1802, more than 60 years after the events related, and its accuracy has been questioned. The lack of dedication on the title page of the "Aria with Diverse Variations" also makes the tale of the commission unlikely. Goldberg's age at the time of publication (14 years) has also been cited as grounds for doubting Forkel's tale, although it must be said that he was known to be an accomplished keyboardist and sight-reader. In a recent book-length study, keyboardist and Bach scholar Peter Williams contends that the Forkel story is entirely spurious.

The aria
Aria

An aria in music was originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. The term is now used almost exclusively to describe a self-contained piece for one voice usually with orchestral accompaniment....
 on which the variations are based was suggested by Arnold Schering
Arnold Schering

Arnold Schering was a German musicologist.He grew up in Dresden and learned violin at the Annengymnasium from which he graduated in 1896. Thereafter he studied violin at the Berlin School of Music under Joseph Joachim....
 not to have been written by Bach. More recent scholarly literature (such as the edition by Christoph Wolff
Christoph Wolff

Christoph Wolff is a Germany-born musicology, presently on the faculty of Harvard University. Born and educated in Germany, Wolff studied organ and historical keyboard instruments, musicology and art history at the Universities of Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Erlangen, and Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg, receiving a p...
) suggests that there is no basis for such doubts.

Publication


Rather unusually for Bach's works, the Goldberg variations were published in his own lifetime, in 1741. The publisher was Bach's friend Balthasar Schmid of Nuremberg
Nuremberg

Nuremberg is a city in the Germany State of Bavaria, in the Regierungsbezirk of Middle Franconia. It is situated on the Pegnitz River river and the Rhine?Main?Danube Canal and is Franconia's largest city....
. Schmid printed the work by making engraved copper plates (rather than using movable type); thus the notes of the first edition are in Schmid's own handwriting. The edition contains various printing errors.

The title page, shown in the figure above, reads in German:

Clavier Ubung / bestehend / in einer ARIA / mit verschiedenen Veraenderungen / vors Clavicimbal / mit 2 Manualen. / Denen Liebhabern zur Gemüths- / Ergetzung verfertiget von / Johann Sebastian Bach / Königl. Pohl. u. Churfl. Saechs. Hoff- / Compositeur, Capellmeister, u. Directore / Chori Musici in Leipzig. / Nürnberg in Verlegung / Balthasar Schmids


"Keyboard practice, consisting of an ARIA with diverse variations for harpsichord with two manuals. Composed for connoisseurs, for the refreshment of their spirits, by Johann Sebastian Bach, composer for the royal court of Poland and the Electoral court of Saxony, Kapellmeister
Kapellmeister

Kapellmeister is a German language word designating a person in charge of music-making. The word is a compound word, consisting of the roots Kapelle and Meister ....
 and Director of Choral Music in Leipzig. Nuremberg, Balthasar Schmid, publisher."


By "Clavier Ubung" (nowadays spelled "Klavier Übung"), Bach indicated, according to some, that the Variations were the fourth (and last) in a series of clavier (organ and harpsichord) works (part 1 being the six partitas, part 2 the Italian Concerto and French Overture
Overture in the French style, BWV 831

The Overture in the French style, BWV 831, original title Overture nach Franz?sicher Art , also known as the French Overture and published as the second half of Clavier-?bung II in 1735 in music , is a suite in B minor for two-manual harpsichord written by Johann Sebastian Bach....
, and part 3 a series of chorale prelude
Chorale prelude

In music, a chorale prelude is a short liturgical composition for organ using a chorale tune as its basis. It was a predominant style of the German Baroque music era and reached its culmination in the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, who wrote 46 examples of the form in his Orgelb?chlein....
s for organ framed by a prelude and fugue in E-flat major). Because Bach does not specifically designate the Variations as the fourth part, the matter is up for debate.

Nineteen copies of the first edition survive today. Of these, the most valuable is the "handexemplar", kept in the Bibliothèque nationale de France
Bibliothèque nationale de France

The Biblioth?que nationale de France is the National library of France, located in Paris. It is intended to be the repository of all that is published in France....
, Paris, which includes corrections and additions made by the composer, including an appendix with fourteen canons based on the first eight bass notes of the aria, BWV 1087.

These copies provide virtually the only information available to modern editors trying to reconstruct Bach's intent; the autograph (hand-written) score has not survived. A handwritten copy of just the aria is found in the 1725
1725 in music

The year 1725 in music involved some significant events.Events *Giovanni Battista Pergolesi goes to Naples to study under Gaetano Greco....
 Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach
Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach

The title Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach refers to either of two manuscript notebooks that the Germany Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach presented to his second wife Anna Magdalena Bach....
. Christoph Wolff suggests on the basis of handwriting evidence that Anna Magdalena copied the aria from the autograph score around 1740; it appears on two pages previously left blank.

Form


After a statement of the aria at the beginning of the piece, there are thirty variations. The variations do not follow the melody of the aria, but rather use its bass line and chord progression
Chord progression

A chord progression is series of chord s played in order. Chord progressions are central to most modern music and the principal study of harmony....
. Because of this the work is often said to be a chaconne
Chaconne

In music, a chaconne is a musical form whose primary formal feature involves Variation on a repeated short harmonic progression.Originally a quick dance-song which emerged during the late 16th century in Spain culture, possibly from the New World, the chaconne was characterized by suggestive movements and mocking texts.....
 — the difference being that the theme for a chaconne is usually just four bars long, whereas Bach's aria is in two sections of sixteen bars, each repeated.

The bass line is notated by Ralph Kirkpatrick
Ralph Kirkpatrick

Ralph Kirkpatrick was a musician, musicologist and harpsichordist, born in Leominster, Massachusetts....
 in his performing edition as follows.

Goldbergvariationsbassline
The digits above the notes indicate the specified chord in the system of figured bass
Figured bass

Figured bass, or thoroughbass, is a kind of integer musical notation used to indicate interval , chord s, and nonchord tones, in relation to a bass note....
; where digits are separated by comma, they indicate different options taken in different variations.

Every third variation in the series of 30 is a canon
Canon (music)

In music, a canon is a counterpoint composition that employs a melody with one or more imitations of the melody played after a given duration . The initial melody is called the leader , while the imitative melody is called the follower which is played in a different voice....
, following an ascending pattern. Thus, variation 3 is a canon at the unison, variation 6 is a canon at the second (the second entry begins the interval of a second
Interval (music)

In music theory, the term interval describes the relationship between the pitch of two notes.Intervals may be described as:*vertical if the two notes sound simultaneously...
 above the first), variation 9 is a canon at the third, and so on until variation 27, which is a canon at the ninth. The final variation, instead of being the expected canon in the tenth, is a quodlibet
Quodlibet

A quodlibet is a piece of music combining several different melody, usually popular tunes, in counterpoint and often a light-hearted, humorous manner....
, discussed below.

As Ralph Kirkpatrick has pointed out, the variations that intervene between the canons are also arranged in a pattern. If we leave aside the initial and final material of the work (specifically, the Aria, the first two variations, the Quodlibet, and the aria da capo), the remaining material is arranged as follows. The variations found just after each canon are genre pieces of various types, among them three Baroque dance
Baroque dance

Baroque dance is dance of the Baroque era in Europe , closely linked with Baroque music, theatre and opera....
s (4, 7, 19); a fughetta (10); a French overture
French overture

The French overture is a musical form widely used in the Baroque music period. It is in three parts: the first is slow, often with double-dotted rhythms , the second is quick and fugal, and the first part returns at the end....
 (16); and two ornate aria
Aria

An aria in music was originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. The term is now used almost exclusively to describe a self-contained piece for one voice usually with orchestral accompaniment....
s for the right hand (13, 25). The variations located two after each canon (5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23, 26, and 29) are what Kirkpatrick calls "arabesques"; they are variations in lively tempo with a great deal of hand-crossing. This ternary pattern - canon, genre piece, arabesque — is repeated a total of nine times, until the Quodlibet breaks the cycle.

At the end of the thirty variations, Bach writes Aria da Capo è fine, meaning that the performer is to return to the beginning ("da capo") and play the aria again before concluding.

The variations

The work was composed for a two-manual
Manual (music)

A manual is a musical keyboard designed to be played with the hands on a pipe organ, harpsichord, clavichord, electronic organ, or synthesizer. The term "manual" is used with regard to any hand keyboard on these instruments to distinguish it from the Pedal clavier, which is a keyboard that the organist plays with his or her feet....
 harpsichord
Harpsichord

A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when each Key is pressed....
 (see musical keyboard
Musical keyboard

A musical keyboard is the set of adjacent depressible levers or keys on a musical instrument, particularly the piano. Keyboards typically contain keys for playing the twelve notes of the Western musical scale, with a combination of larger, longer keys and smaller, shorter keys that repeats at the interval of an octave....
). Variations 8, 11, 13, 14, 17, 20, 23, 25, 26, 27 and 28 are specified in the score for two manuals, whilst variations 5, 7 and 29 are specified as playable with either one or two. With greater difficulty, the work can nevertheless be played on a single-manual harpsichord or piano.

All the variations are in G major, apart from variations 15, 21, and 25, which are in G minor. Many of the variations are binary
Binary form

Binary form is a way of structuring a piece of music in two related sections, both of which are usually repeated. Binary is also a structure used to choreograph dance....
 in form, that is, an A section followed by a B section.

Aria

The aria is a sarabande
Sarabande

In music, the sarabande is a dance in triple metre. The second and third beats of each measure are often tied, giving the dance a distinctive rhythm of crotchets and minims in alternation....
 in 3/4 time
Time signature

The time signature is a notational convention used in Western culture musical notation to specify how many beat s are in each bar and what note value constitutes one beat....
, and features a heavily ornamented melody:
Bach Goldberg Aria
The French style of ornamentation suggests that the ornaments are supposed to be parts of the melody, however some performers (for example Wilhelm Kempff
Wilhelm Kempff

Wilhelm Walter Friedrich Kempff was a world-renowned Germany virtuoso pianist and composer. Although his repertory included Bach, Liszt, Chopin, Schumann, and Brahms, Kempff was particularly well-known for his interpretations of the music of Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert, both of whose complete sonatas he recorded at least once....
 on piano) omit some or all ornaments and present the aria unadorned.

Peter Williams comments in Bach: The Goldberg Variations that this is not the theme at all, but actually the first variation (a view emphasising the idea of the work as a chaconne
Chaconne

In music, a chaconne is a musical form whose primary formal feature involves Variation on a repeated short harmonic progression.Originally a quick dance-song which emerged during the late 16th century in Spain culture, possibly from the New World, the chaconne was characterized by suggestive movements and mocking texts.....
 rather than a piece in true variation form).

Variatio 1. a 1 Clav.

This sprightly variation contrasts markedly with the slow, contemplative mood of the theme. The rhythm in the right hand forces the emphasis on the second beat, giving rise to syncopation
Syncopation

In music, syncopation includes a variety of rhythms which are in some way unexpected in that they deviate from the strict succession of regularly spaced strong and weak beat in a meter ....
 from bars 1 to 7. Hands cross at bar 13 from the upper register to the lower, bringing back this syncopation for another two bars. In the first two bars of the B part, the rhythm mirrors that of the beginning of the A part, but after this a different idea is introduced.

Williams sees this as a sort of polonaise
Polonaise

The polonaise , known colloquially as the Bismarck, is a slow dance of Poland origin, in 3/4 time. Its name is French language for "Polish." The Dynamics alla polacca on a score indicates that the piece should be played with the rhythm and character of a polonaise ....
. The characteristic rhythm in the left hand is also found in Bach's Partita No. 3 for solo violin
Partita for Violin No. 3 (Bach)

The Partita No. 3 in E major BWV 1006 by Johann Sebastian Bach for solo violin consists of the following movements:#Preludio#Loure#Gavotte en Rondeau...
, in the A-flat major prelude from the first book of the Well-Tempered Clavier
Well-Tempered Clavier

The Well-Tempered Clavier , BWV 846?893, is a collection of solo keyboard music composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. He first gave the title to a book of prelude and fugues in all 24 major and minor key , dated 1722, composed "for the profit and use of musical youth desirous of learning, and especially for the pastime of those already...
, and in the D minor prelude of the second book.

Variatio 2. a 1 Clav.

This is a simple three-part contrapuntal piece in 2/4 time, two voices engage in constant motivic interplay over an incessant bass line. The piece is almost a pure canon
Canon (music)

In music, a canon is a counterpoint composition that employs a melody with one or more imitations of the melody played after a given duration . The initial melody is called the leader , while the imitative melody is called the follower which is played in a different voice....
. Each section has an alternate ending to be played on the first and second repeat.

Variatio 3. a 1 Clav. Canone all’ Unisono

The first of the regular canons, this is a canon at the unison: the follower begins on the same note as the leader, a bar later. As with all canons of the Goldberg Variations (except the 27th variation, canon at the ninth), there is a supporting bass line here. The time signature of 12/8 and the many sets of triplets
Tuplet

In music a tuplet is any consecutive group of notes with an individual note value more or less than half as long as the next larger note value. This is usually indicated with a horizontal bracket with a number over a tuplet indicating how many notes of the same altered value are to be performed....
 suggest a kind of a simple dance.

Variatio 4. a 1 Clav.

Like the passepied
Passepied

The passepied is a 17th- and 18th-century dance that originated in Brittany. The term can also used to describe the music to which a passepied is set....
, a Baroque dance movement, this variation is in 3/8 time with a preponderance of quaver rhythms. Bach uses close but not exact imitation
Imitation

Imitation is an advanced behavior whereby an individual observes and replicates another's. The word can be applied in many contexts, ranging from animal training to international politics....
: the musical pattern in one part reappears a bar later in another (sometimes inverted
Inversion (music)

In music theory, the word inversion has several meanings. There are inverted chords, inverted melodies, inverted intervals, and inverted voices....
).
Bach Goldberg Var4
Each repeated section has alternate endings for the first or second time.

Variatio 5. a 1 ô vero 2 Clav.

This is the first of the hand-crossing, two-part variations. It is in 3/4 time. A rapid melodic line written predominantly in sixteenth notes is accompanied by another melody with longer note values, which features very wide leaps:
Bach Goldberg Var5
The Italian type of hand-crossing is employed here, with one hand constantly moving back and forth between high and low registers
Register (music)

In music, a register is the relative "height" or Range of a note, Musical set theory of Pitch es or pitch classes, melody, part, Musical instrument or group of instruments....
 while the other hand stays in the middle of the keyboard, playing the fast passages.

Variatio 6. a 1 Clav. Canone alla Seconda

The sixth variation is a canon at the second: the follower starts a major second
Interval (music)

In music theory, the term interval describes the relationship between the pitch of two notes.Intervals may be described as:*vertical if the two notes sound simultaneously...
 higher than the leader. The piece is based on a descending scale and is in 3/8 time. The harpsichordist Ralph Kirkpatrick
Ralph Kirkpatrick

Ralph Kirkpatrick was a musician, musicologist and harpsichordist, born in Leominster, Massachusetts....
 describes this piece as having "an almost nostalgic tenderness". Each section has an alternate ending to be played on the first and second repeat.

Variatio 7. a 1 ô vero 2 Clav. al tempo di Giga


In his own copy of Goldberg Variations, Bach specified that this 6/8 dance should be played al tempo di Giga
Gigue

The gigue or giga is a lively baroque dance originating from the British jig. It was imported into France in the mid-17th century and usually appears at the end of a suite....
 — in the tempo of a gigue, which is a lively, energetic dance. Since Bach's copy was only found in 1974, early recordings where this variation is played at a slower speed, like a loure
Loure

The loure, also known as the gigue lente or slow gigue, is a French Baroque dance, probably invented in Normandy and named after the sound of the instrument of the same name ....
 or a siciliana
Siciliana

The siciliana or siciliano is a musical form often included as a movement within larger pieces of music starting in the Baroque music. It is in a slow 6/8 or 12/8 time signature with lilting rhythms making it somewhat resemble a slow jig, and is usually in a minor key....
, are not uncommon. Slow tempi, however, are also found in post-1974 recordings by Glenn Gould
Glenn Gould

Glenn Herbert Gould was a Canadian pianist, noted especially for his recordings of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, his remarkable technical proficiency, his unorthodox musical philosophy, and his eccentric personality and piano technique....
, Wilhelm Kempff
Wilhelm Kempff

Wilhelm Walter Friedrich Kempff was a world-renowned Germany virtuoso pianist and composer. Although his repertory included Bach, Liszt, Chopin, Schumann, and Brahms, Kempff was particularly well-known for his interpretations of the music of Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert, both of whose complete sonatas he recorded at least once....
 and Angela Hewitt
Angela Hewitt

Angela Hewitt OBE, Order of Canada is a Canada classical pianist who is generally regarded as one of the world's foremost Johann Sebastian Bach pianists....
, among others.
Bach Goldberg Var7
The dotted rhythmic pattern of this variation (pictured) is very similar to that of the gigue from Bach's second French suite and the gigue of the French Overture
Overture in the French style, BWV 831

The Overture in the French style, BWV 831, original title Overture nach Franz?sicher Art , also known as the French Overture and published as the second half of Clavier-?bung II in 1735 in music , is a suite in B minor for two-manual harpsichord written by Johann Sebastian Bach....
. Both the bass line and the melody feature much ornamentation.

Variatio 8. a 2 Clav.

This is another two-part hand-crossing variation, in 3/4 time. The French style of hand-crossing is employed, with both hands playing at the same part of the keyboard, one above the other. This is relatively easy to perform on a two-manual harpsichord, but quite hard to do on a piano.

Most bars feature either a distinctive pattern of eleven sixteenth note
Sixteenth note

In music, a sixteenth note or semiquaver is a note played for one sixteenth the duration of a whole note, hence the name. The semiquaver is half of a quaver which is an eighth note....
s and a sixteenth rest, or ten sixteenth notes and a single eighth note
Eighth note

An eighth note or a quaver is a Music note played for one eighth the duration of a whole note, hence the name.Eighth notes are notated with an oval, filled-in note head and a straight note stem with one flag ....
. Large leaps in the melody can be observed, for instance, in bars 9-11: from B below middle C in bar 9, from A above middle C to an A an octave higher in bar 10, and from G above middle C to a G an octave higher in bar 11. Both sections end with descending passages in thirty-second note
Thirty-second note

In music, a thirty-second note or demisemiquaver is a note played for 1/32 of the duration of a whole note . It lasts half as long as a sixteenth note and twice as long as a Sixty-fourth_note ....
s.

Variatio 9. Canone alla Terza. a 1 Clav.

This is a canon at the third, in 4/4 time. The supporting bass line is slightly more active than in the previous canons. This short variation (16 bars) is usually played at a slow tempo.

Variatio 10. Fughetta a 1 Clav.

Variation 10 is a four-voice fughetta, with a four-bar subject heavily decorated with ornament
Ornament (music)

In music, ornaments are musical flourishes that are not necessary to carry the overall line of the melody , but serve instead to decorate or "ornament" that line....
s and somewhat reminiscent of the opening aria's melody.
Bach Goldberg Var10
The exposition takes up the whole first section of this variation (pictured). First the subject is stated in the bass, starting on the G below middle C. The answer (in the tenor) enters in bar 5, but it's a tonal answer, so some of the intervals are altered. The soprano voice enters in bar 9, but only keeps the first two bars of the subject intact, changing the rest. The final entry occurs in the alto in bar 13. There is no regular counter-subject in this fugue.

The second section develops using the same thematic material with slight changes. It resembles a counter-exposition: the voices enter one by one, all begin by stating the subject (sometimes a bit altered, like in the first section). The section begins with the subject heard once again, in the soprano voice, accompanied by an active bass line, making the bass part the only exception since it doesn't pronounce the subject until bar 25.

Variatio 11. a 2 Clav.

This is a virtuosic two-part toccata
Toccata

Toccata is a virtuoso piece of music typically for a keyboard instrument or plucked string instrument featuring fast-moving, lightly fingered or otherwise virtuosic passages or sections, with or without imitative or fugue interludes, generally emphasizing the dexterity of the performer's fingers....
 in 12/16 time. Specified for two manuals, it is largely made up of various scale passages, arpeggio
Arpeggio

In music, an arpeggio is a broken Chord where the notes are played or sung in sequence, one after the other, rather than ringing out simultaneously....
s and trills, and features much hand-crossing of different kinds.

Variatio 12. Canone alla Quarta. a 1 Clav.

This is a canon at the fourth in 3/4 time, of the inverted variety: the follower enters in the second bar in contrary motion
Contrary motion

In music theory, contrary motion is the general movement of two melody in opposite directions. That is, when one of the lines moves up, the other line moves down....
 to the leader. The follower appears inverted
Inversion (music)

In music theory, the word inversion has several meanings. There are inverted chords, inverted melodies, inverted intervals, and inverted voices....
 in the second bar.

In the first section, the left hand accompanies with a bass line written out in repeated quarter notes, in bars 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7. This repeated note motif also appears in the first bar of the second section (bar 17, two Ds and a C), and, slightly altered, in bars 22 and 23. In the second section, Bach changes the mood slightly by introducing a few appoggiaturas (bars 19 and 20) and trills (bars 29-30).

Variatio 13. a 2 Clav.

This variation is a slow, gentle and richly decorated sarabande
Sarabande

In music, the sarabande is a dance in triple metre. The second and third beats of each measure are often tied, giving the dance a distinctive rhythm of crotchets and minims in alternation....
 in 3/4 time. Most of the melody is written out using thirty-second note
Thirty-second note

In music, a thirty-second note or demisemiquaver is a note played for 1/32 of the duration of a whole note . It lasts half as long as a sixteenth note and twice as long as a Sixty-fourth_note ....
s, and ornamented with a few appoggiaturas (more frequent in the second section) and a few mordent
Mordent

In music, a mordent is an Ornament indicating that the note is to be played in a single rapid alternation with the note above or below. Like trill s, they can be Chromatic scale modified by a small Flat , Sharp or Natural sign accidental ....
s. Throughout the piece, the melody is in one voice, and in bars 16 and 24 an interesting effect is produced by the use of an additional voice. Here are bars 15 and 16, the ending of the first section (bar 24 exhibits a similar pattern):
Bach Goldberg Var13

Variatio 14. a 2 Clav.


This is a rapid two-part hand-crossing toccata in 3/4 time, with many trill
Trill (music)

The trill is a ornament consisting of a rapid alternation between two adjacent notes of a scale . It is sometimes referred to by the German triller or the Italian trillo....
s and other ornamentation
Ornament (music)

In music, ornaments are musical flourishes that are not necessary to carry the overall line of the melody , but serve instead to decorate or "ornament" that line....
. It is specified for two manuals and features large jumps between registers. Both features (ornaments and leaps in the melody) are apparent from the first bar: the piece begins with a transition from the G two octaves below middle C, with a lower mordent, to the G two octaves above it with a trill with initial turn.

Contrasting it with Variation 15, Glenn Gould
Glenn Gould

Glenn Herbert Gould was a Canadian pianist, noted especially for his recordings of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, his remarkable technical proficiency, his unorthodox musical philosophy, and his eccentric personality and piano technique....
 described this variation as "certainly one of the giddiest bits of neo-Scarlatti-ism imaginable."

Variatio 15. Canone alla Quinta. a 1 Clav.

This is a canon at the fifth in 2/4 time. Like Variation 12, it is in contrary motion
Contrary motion

In music theory, contrary motion is the general movement of two melody in opposite directions. That is, when one of the lines moves up, the other line moves down....
 with the leader appearing inverted in the second bar. This is the first of the three variations in G minor, and its melancholic mood contrasts sharply with the playfulness of the previous variation. Pianist Angela Hewitt
Angela Hewitt

Angela Hewitt OBE, Order of Canada is a Canada classical pianist who is generally regarded as one of the world's foremost Johann Sebastian Bach pianists....
 notes that there is "a wonderful effect at the very end [of this variation]: the hands move away from each other, with the right suspended in mid-air on an open fifth. This gradual fade, leaving us in awe but ready for more, is a fitting end to the first half of the piece."

Glenn Gould
Glenn Gould

Glenn Herbert Gould was a Canadian pianist, noted especially for his recordings of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, his remarkable technical proficiency, his unorthodox musical philosophy, and his eccentric personality and piano technique....
 said of this variation, "It’s the most severe and rigorous and beautiful canon...the most severe and beautiful that I know, the canon in inversion at the fifth. It’s a piece so moving, so anguished – and so uplifting at the same time – that it would not be in any way out of place in the St. Matthew’s Passion; matter of fact, I’ve always thought of Variation 15 as the perfect Good Friday spell."

Variatio 16. Ouverture. a 1 Clav.

The set of variations can be seen as being divided into two halves, clearly marked by this grand French overture
French overture

The French overture is a musical form widely used in the Baroque music period. It is in three parts: the first is slow, often with double-dotted rhythms , the second is quick and fugal, and the first part returns at the end....
, commencing with a particularly emphatic opening and closing chord
Chord (music)

In music and music theory a chord is a set of two or more different note that sound simultaneously. Most often, in European-influenced music, chords are tertian Sonority that can be constructed as stacks of thirds relative to some underlying musical scale....
s. It consists of a slow prelude with dotted rhythm
Rhythm

Rhythm is the variation of the length and accentuation of a series of sounds or other events....
s with a following fugue-like contrapuntal
Counterpoint

In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more Register that are independent in contour and rhythm, and interdependent in harmony....
 section.

Variatio 17. a 2 Clav.

This variation is another two-part virtuosic toccata. Peter Williams sees echoes of Antonio Vivaldi
Antonio Vivaldi

Antonio Lucio Vivaldi , nicknamed il Prete Rosso , was a Baroque music composer and Venice priest, as well as a famous virtuoso violinist, born and raised in the Republic of Venice....
 and Domenico Scarlatti
Domenico Scarlatti

Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti , son of the composer Alessandro Scarlatti, was an Italy composer who spent much of his life in Spain and Portugal....
 here. Specified for 2 manuals, the piece features hand-crossing. It is in 3/4 time and usually played at a moderately fast tempo. Rosalyn Tureck
Rosalyn Tureck

Rosalyn Tureck was an American pianist and harpsichordist who was particularly associated with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. She was born in Chicago, Illinois....
 is one of the very few performers who recorded slow interpretations of the piece. In making his 1981 re-recording of the Goldberg Variations, Glenn Gould
Glenn Gould

Glenn Herbert Gould was a Canadian pianist, noted especially for his recordings of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, his remarkable technical proficiency, his unorthodox musical philosophy, and his eccentric personality and piano technique....
 considered playing this variation at a slower tempo, in keeping with the tempo of the preceding variation (Variation 16), but ultimately decided not to because "Variation 17 is one of those rather skittish, slightly empty-headed collections of scales and arpeggios which Bach indulged when he wasn’t writing sober and proper things like fugues and canons, and it just seemed to me that there wasn't enough substance to it to warrant such a methodical, deliberate, Germanic tempo."

Variatio 18. Canone alla Sexta. a 1 Clav.

This is a canon at the sixth in 2/2 time. The canonic interplay in the upper voices features many suspensions
Nonchord tone

A nonchord tone, nonharmonic tone, or non-harmony note is a Note in a piece of music which is not a part of the chord that is formed by the other notes sounding at the time....
. Commenting on the structure of the canons of the Goldberg Variations, Glenn Gould
Glenn Gould

Glenn Herbert Gould was a Canadian pianist, noted especially for his recordings of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, his remarkable technical proficiency, his unorthodox musical philosophy, and his eccentric personality and piano technique....
 cited this variation as the extreme example of "deliberate duality of motivic emphasis [...] the canonic voices are called upon to sustain the passacaille
Passacaglia

A passacaglia is a musical form that originated in early seventeenth-century Spain and is still used by contemporary composers. Its character is usually grave and it is often, but not always, based on a bass-ostinato and written in triple-meter....
 role which is capriciously abandoned by the bass." Gould spoke very fondly of this canon in a radio conversation with Tim Page
Tim Page (music critic)

Tim Page is a writer, editor, producer and professor. He was a Pulitzer Prize-winning music critic for the Washington Post and also played an essential role in the revival of American author Dawn Powell....
: "The canon at the sixth – I adore it, it’s a gem. Well, I adore all the canons, really, but it’s one of my favorite variations, certainly."

Variatio 19. a 1 Clav.

This is a dance-like three-part variation in 3/8 time. The same sixteenth note figuration is continuously employed and variously exchanged between each of the three voices.

Variatio 20. a 2 Clav.

This variation is a virtuosic two-part toccata in 3/4 time. Specified for two manuals, it involves rapid hand-crossing. The piece consists mostly of variations on the texture introduced during its first eight bars, where one hand plays a string of eighth note
Eighth note

An eighth note or a quaver is a Music note played for one eighth the duration of a whole note, hence the name.Eighth notes are notated with an oval, filled-in note head and a straight note stem with one flag ....
s and the other accompanies by plucking sixteenth note
Sixteenth note

In music, a sixteenth note or semiquaver is a note played for one sixteenth the duration of a whole note, hence the name. The semiquaver is half of a quaver which is an eighth note....
s after each eighth note. To demonstrate this, here are the first two bars of the first section:
Bach Goldberg Var20

Variatio 21. Canone alla Settima. a 1 Clav.

The second of the minor key variations, variation 21 is a canon at the seventh in 4/4 time; Kenneth Gilbert
Kenneth Gilbert

Kenneth Gilbert is an internationally renowned and widely recorded Canada harpsichordist. He studied harpsichord in Paris with Ruggero Gerlin, one of the principal students of Wanda Landowska....
 sees it as an allemande
Allemande

An allemande is one of the most popular instrumental dance forms in Baroque music, and a standard element of a suite. Originally, the allemande formed the first movement of the suite, before the courante, but, later, it was often preceded by an introductory movement, such as a Prelude ....
. The bass line begins the piece with a low note, proceeds to a slow chromatic descent from a higher note and only picks up the pace of the canonic voices in bar 3:
Bach Goldberg Var21
A similar pattern, only a bit more lively, occurs in the bass line in the beginning of the second section, which begins with the opening motif inverted
Inversion (music)

In music theory, the word inversion has several meanings. There are inverted chords, inverted melodies, inverted intervals, and inverted voices....
.

Variatio 22. a 1 Clav. alla breve

This variation features four-part writing with many imitative passages and its development in all voices but the bass is much like that of a fugue. The only specified ornament is a trill
Trill (music)

The trill is a ornament consisting of a rapid alternation between two adjacent notes of a scale . It is sometimes referred to by the German triller or the Italian trillo....
 which is performed on a whole note
Whole note

In music, a whole note or semibreve is a note represented by a hollow oval note head, like a half note , and no note stem . Its length is typically equal to four beats in 4/4 time signature....
 and which lasts for two bars (11 and 12).

The ground bass on which the entire set of variations is built is heard perhaps most explicitly in this variation (as well as in the Quodlibet) due to the simplicity of the bass voice.

Variatio 23. a 2 Clav.

Another lively two-part virtuosic variation for two manuals, in 3/4 time. It begins with the hands chasing another, as it were: the melodic line, initiated in the left hand with a sharp striking of the G above middle C, and then sliding down from the D above to the A, is offset by the right hand, imitating the left at the same pitch, but a quaver late, for the first three bars, ending with a small flourish in the fourth:
Bach Goldberg Var23
This pattern is repeated during bars 5-8, only with the left hand imitating the right one, and the scales are ascending, not descending. We then alternate between hands in short bursts written out in short note values until the last three bars of the first section. The second section starts with this similar alternation in short bursts again, then leads to a dramatic section of alternating thirds between hands. Peter Williams, marvelling at the emotional range of the work, asks: "Can this really be a variation of the same theme that lies behind the adagio no 25?"

Variatio 24. Canone all'Ottava. a 1 Clav.

This variation is a canon at the octave, in 9/8 time. The leader is answered both an octave below and an octave above; it is the only canon of the variations in which the leader alternates between voices in the middle of a section.

Variatio 25. a 2 Clav.

Variation 25 is the third and last variation in G minor; a three-part piece, it is marked adagio
Tempo

In musical terminology, 'tempo' is the speed or pace of a given musical piece. It is an extremely crucial element of composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece....
 in Bach's own copy and is in 3/4 time. The melody is written out predominantly in 16th and 32nd notes, with many chromaticism
Chromaticism

In music, chromaticism is a compositional technique interspersing the primary diatonic pitches and chords with other pitches of the chromatic scale....
s. This variation generally lasts longer than any other piece of the set.

Wanda Landowska
Wanda Landowska

Wanda Landowska , was a Poland harpsichordist whose performances, teaching, recordings and writings played a large role in reviving the popularity of the harpsichord in the early 20th century....
 famously described this variation as "the black pearl" of the Goldberg Variations. Peter Williams writes that "the beauty and dark passion of this variation make it unquestionably the emotional high point of the work", and Glenn Gould said that "the appearance of this wistful, weary cantilena is a master-stroke of psychology." In an interview with Gould, Tim Page
Tim Page (music critic)

Tim Page is a writer, editor, producer and professor. He was a Pulitzer Prize-winning music critic for the Washington Post and also played an essential role in the revival of American author Dawn Powell....
 described this variation as having an "extraordinary chromatic texture"; Gould agreed: "I don't think there's been a richer load of enharmonic
Enharmonic

In modern music and musical notation, an enharmonic equivalent is a note , interval , or key signature which is equivalence to some other note, interval, or key signature, but "spelled", or named, differently....
 relationships any place between Gesualdo
Carlo Gesualdo

Carlo Gesualdo, known as Gesualdo da Venosa , Prince of Venosa and Count of Conza, was an Italian music composer, lutenist and nobleman of the late Renaissance music....
 and Wagner
Richard Wagner

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, Conducting, theatre director and essayist, primarily known for his operas . Unlike most other great opera composers, Wagner wrote both the scenario and libretto for his works....
."

Gould's 1955 recording of this variation was included in the soundtrack to the film Slaughterhouse 5
Slaughterhouse-Five (film)

Slaughterhouse-Five is an award-winning 1972 film adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five. The screenplay is by Stephen Geller and the film was directed by George Roy Hill....
 during scenes portraying the firestorm that destroyed Dresden
Dresden

Dresden is the capital city of the Germany Federal Free state of Saxony. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon triangle metropolitan area....
.

Variatio 26. a 2 Clav.

In sharp contrast with the introspective and passionate nature of the previous variation, this piece is another virtuosic two-part toccata, joyous and fast-paced. Underneath the rapid arabesques, this variation is basically a sarabande
Sarabande

In music, the sarabande is a dance in triple metre. The second and third beats of each measure are often tied, giving the dance a distinctive rhythm of crotchets and minims in alternation....
. Two time signatures are used, 18/16 for the incessant melody written in 16th notes and 3/4 for the accompaniment in quarter and eighth notes; during the last 5 bars, both hands play in 18/16.

Variatio 27. Canone alla Nona. a 2 Clav.

Variation 27 is the last canon of the piece, at the ninth and in 6/8 time. This is the only canon where two manuals are specified (not due to hand-crossing difficulties), and the only pure canon of the work, because it does not have a bass line.

Variatio 28. a 2 Clav.

This variation is a two-part toccata in 3/4 time that employs a great deal of hand crossing. Trills are written out using 32nd notes and are present in most of the bars. The piece begins with a pattern in which each hand successively picks out a melodic line while also playing trills. Following this is a section with both hands playing in contrary motion in a melodic contour marked by 16th notes (bars 9-12). The end of the first section features trills again, in both hands now and mirroring one another:
Bach Goldberg Var28
The second section starts and closes with the contrary motion idea seen in bars 9-12. Most of the closing bars feature trills in one or both hands.

Variatio 29. a 1 ô vero 2 Clav.

This variation consists mostly of heavy chords alternating with sections of brilliant arpeggios shared between the hands. It is in 3/4 time. A rather grand variation, it adds an air of resolution after the lofty brilliance of the previous variation. Glenn Gould states that variations 28 and 29 present the only case of "motivic collaboration or extension between successive variations."

Variatio 30. Quodlibet. a 1 Clav.

Quodlibet
This quodlibet
Quodlibet

A quodlibet is a piece of music combining several different melody, usually popular tunes, in counterpoint and often a light-hearted, humorous manner....
 is based on multiple German folk songs, two of which are Ich bin solang nicht bei dir g'west, ruck her, ruck her ("I have so long been away from you, come closer, come closer") and Kraut und Rüben haben mich vertrieben, hätt mein' Mutter Fleisch gekocht, wär ich länger blieben ("Cabbage and turnips have driven me away, had my mother cooked meat, I'd have opted to stay"). The others have been forgotten. Bach's biographer Forkel
Johann Nikolaus Forkel

Johann Nikolaus Forkel , was a Germany musician, musicologist and music theory....
 explains the Quodlibet by invoking a custom observed at Bach family reunions (Bach's relatives were almost all musicians):

As soon as they were assembled a chorale
Chorale

A chorale was originally a hymn of the Lutheran church sung by the entire congregation. In casual modern usage, the term also includes classical settings of such hymns and works of a similar character....
 was first struck up. From this devout beginning they proceeded to jokes which were frequently in strong contrast. That is, they then sang popular songs partly of comic and also partly of indecent content, all mixed together on the spur of the moment. ... This kind of improvised harmonizing they called a Quodlibet, and not only could laugh over it quite whole-heartedly themselves, but also aroused just as hearty and irresistible laughter in all who heard them.


Forkel's anecdote (which is likely to be true, given that he was able to interview Bach's sons), suggests fairly clearly that Bach meant the Quodlibet to be a joke.

Aria da Capo

A note for note repeat of the aria at the beginning. Williams writes that the work's "elusive beauty ... is reinforced by this return to the Aria. ... no such return can have a neutral Affekt. Its melody is made to stand out by what has gone on in the last five variations, and it is likely to appear wistful or nostalgic or subdued or resigned or sad, heard on its repeat as something coming to an end, the same notes but now final."

Canons on the Goldberg ground, BWV 1087

This late contrapuntal work consists of fourteen canons built on the first eight bass notes from the aria of the Goldberg variations. It was found in 1974, in Strasbourg
Strasbourg

Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace Regions of France in northeastern France. With 702,412 inhabitants in 2007, its metropolitan area is the Aire urbaine....
 (Alsace
Alsace

Alsace is the fourth-smallest of the 26 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the sixth-most densely populated region in France , with 222 inhabitants per km? ....
, France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
), forming an appendix to the Bach's personal printed edition of the Goldberg Variations. Among those canons, the eleventh and the thirteenth are a sort of first version of BWV 1077 and BWV 1076, which is included in the famous portrait of Bach painted by Elias Gottlob Haussmann
Elias Gottlob Haussmann

Elias Gottlob Haussmann was a Germany Painting in the late Baroque era. Haussmann served as court painter at Dresden, and from 1720 as the official Portrait painting at Leipzig....
 in 1746.

Transcribed and popularized versions


The Goldberg Variations have been reworked freely by many performers, changing either the instrumentation, the notes, or both. Italian composer Ferruccio Busoni
Ferruccio Busoni

Ferruccio Dante Michelangiolo Benvenuto Busoni was an Italian composer, pianist, editor, writer, piano and composition teacher, and conducting....
 prepared a massively altered transcription for piano. According to art critic Michael Kimmelman
Michael Kimmelman

Michael Kimmelman is an author and the chief art critic and a columnist for the New York Times.He was born and raised in Greenwich Village, the son of a physician and civil rights activist....
, "Busoni shuffled the variations, skipping some, then added his own rather voluptuous coda to create a three-movement structure; each movement has a distinct, arcing shape, and the whole becomes a more tightly organized drama than the original." The Liechtensteinian organist and composer Joseph Gabriel Rheinberger created a transcription for two pianos (op. 3). Other arrangements include:

  • 1938 – Józef Koffler
    Józef Koffler

    J?zef Koffler , was a Poland composer, music teacher, musicologist and musical columnist.He was the first Polish composer living before the Second World War that applied the Twelve-tone technique ....
    , transcription for orchestra
    Orchestra

    An orchestra is an Musical ensemble, usually fairly large with string, brass, woodwind sections, and possibly a percussion section as well. The term orchestra derives from the name for the area in front of an theatre of ancient Greece reserved for the Greek chorus....
     / string orchestra
    String orchestra

    A string orchestra is understood as an orchestra composed solely of instruments of the violin family. These instruments are the violin, the viola, the cello and the double bass ....
  • 1984 – Dmitri Sitkovetsky, transcription for string trio
    String trio

    A string trio is a group of three string instruments or a piece written for such a group. The earliest string trio form consisted of two violins and cello, a grouping which had grown out of the baroque music trio sonata....
  • 1987 – Jean Guillou
    Jean Guillou

    Jean Victor Arthur Guillou is a France composer, organist, pianist, and pedagogue....
    , transcription for organ
    Organ (music)

    The organ is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard played either Manual or Pedal clavier. The organ is one of the oldest musical instruments in the European classical music....
  • 1997 – József Eötvös
    József Eötvös (musician)

    Jozsef Eotvos is a classical guitarist, from P?cs, Hungary. Eotvos studied with Roland Zimmer and Franz Just at the Franz Liszt High School of Music in Weimar....
    , transcription for guitar
    Guitar

    The guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six Strings , but Tenor guitar, Seven-string guitar, Eight-string guitar, Ten-string guitar, Eleven-string guitar, Twelve-string guitar, Thirteen-string guitar and doubleneck guitar string guitars also exist....
  • 2000 – Jacques Loussier
    Jacques Loussier

    Jacques Loussier is a noted pianist and composer.He is well known for his jazz interpretations of many of Johann Sebastian Bach's works, such as the Goldberg variations....
    , arrangement for jazz trio
  • 2003 – Karlheinz Essl
    Karlheinz Essl

    Karlheinz Essl is an Austrian composer, performer, sound artist, Improvisation and composition teacher....
     () for string trio and live-electronics
  • 2007 – Simone Dinnerstein
    Simone Dinnerstein

    Simone Dinnerstein is an American classical pianist, born in New York City, USA. Her father, Simon Dinnerstein, is a painter. A former piano teacher, she resides in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn, New York, with her husband, Jeremy Greensmith, a 5th grade teacher at P.S.321, and their son, Adrian, A second grader at 321....


Editions of the score


  • Ralph Kirkpatrick
    Ralph Kirkpatrick

    Ralph Kirkpatrick was a musician, musicologist and harpsichordist, born in Leominster, Massachusetts....
    . New York/London: G. Schirmer, 1938. Contains an extensive preface by the editor and a facsimile of the original title page.
  • Hans Bischoff
    Hans Bischoff

    Hans Bischoff was a Germany entomologist from Berlin.He was Kustos or curator of Hymenoptera at Museum f?r Naturkunde from 1921 until 1955....
    . New York: Edwin F. Kalmus, 1947 (editorial work dates from the nineteenth century). Includes interpretive markings by the editor not indicated as such.
  • Christoph Wolff
    Christoph Wolff

    Christoph Wolff is a Germany-born musicology, presently on the faculty of Harvard University. Born and educated in Germany, Wolff studied organ and historical keyboard instruments, musicology and art history at the Universities of Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Erlangen, and Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg, receiving a p...
    . Vienna: Wiener Urtext Edition, 1996. An urtext edition, making use of the new findings (1975) resulting from the discovery of an original copy hand-corrected by the composer. Includes suggested fingerings and notes on interpretation by harpsichordist Huguette Dreyfus
    Huguette Dreyfus

    Huguette Dreyfus is a French List of harpsichordists born on November 30, 1928 in Mulhouse, Alsace, France....
    .
  • Reinhard Böß. München: edition text + kritik, 1996. Verschiedene Canones ... von J.S. Bach (BWV 1087). ISBN 3-88377-523-1 Edition of the canons in BWV 1087 only. The editor suggests a complete complement of all fourteen canons.


See also Online Scores, below.

See also

  • List of recordings of the Goldberg Variations
    List of recordings of the Goldberg Variations

    This is a partial list of recordings of Johann Sebastian Bach's Goldberg Variations.Listed by date* Wanda Landowska - November 1933 Paris - EMI 5 67200 - ADD - harpsichord...


External links


General



Interactive media

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Online scores

  • - Vol. 3 of the complete Bach Gesellschaft Edition (public domain), from the


Essays

  • - Review of Glenn Gould's and Simone Dinnerstein's renditions
  • - graphical analysis enables you to see the leader and follower in the canons


Recordings

  • Public Domain Recording - recording from Musopen
    Musopen

    Musopen is a public domain resource of music recordings and sheet music.Musopen is a U.S. registered 501 tax-deductible nonprofit charity. Musopen was created by Aaron Dunn in 2005....
    .
  • 45 minutes
  • - Comprehensive discography
  • - Reviews of many recordings