Goldberg Variations

Description

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750) Goldberg Variations (Aria mit verschiedenen Veraenderungen,BWV 988)The Aria and 30 Variations, known as theGoldberg Variations, constitute a superb example of Johann Sebastian Bach'sachievement as a composer for the clavier. The work was published in 1741 or1742 as the fourth part of the Clavier-Uebung, a title that had been used byhis predecessor as Thomaskantor in Leipzig, Johann Kuhnau. The first part ofthis collection of compositions for the clavier had been published complete in1731 and included six Partitas, which had appeared annually, one by one, from1726, three years after his appointment to the Leipzig Thomas-schule. Thesecond part, published in 1735, contained the contrasted Italian Concerto and Overturein the French Style, and the third part, issued in 1739, contained a series oforgan compositions and the keyboard Duets.Doubt had been cast on the storyassociated with the Goldberg Variations, the source of the title by which theyare commonly known. Bach's early biographer Forkel alleged that Count HermannKarl von Keyserlingk, Russian ambassador to the court of Saxony in Dresden, hadcommissioned the work for performance by his protege, the young harpsichordistJohann Gottlieb Goldberg, to amuse him during hours of sleeplessness. Goldberg himself was born in 1727 inDanzig (Gdansk), where he came to Keyserlingk's attention ten years later. Hewas said to have taken lessons not only from J. S. Bach but also from thelatter's eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, who was working in Dresden from1733 until 1746.Goldberg may have remained in Dresdenafter Keyserlingk's departure in 1745 to Potsdam, and in 1751 he entered theservice of the First Minister in Dresden, Count Heinrich von Bruehl. He died oftuberculosis at the age of 29 in 1756, leaving a reputation rather as avirtuoso performer than as a composer.There was, of course, a close connectionbetween J. S. Bach and Count von Keyserlingk, his patron at the court ofDresden. It was through Keyserlingk that Bach had in 1736 finally secured thetitle of Court Composer to the King of Saxony, and the ambassador's only sonwas a student in Leipzig from 1741, so that both Keyserlingk and Goldberg mightwell have visited Bach. Wilhelm Friedemann Bach owed his introduction to thecourt of Dresden to Keyserlingk, whose house was open to other Dresdenmusicians of distinction. The Aria and Variations, however, have no printeddedication, and it has been argued that Goldberg was remarkably young at thetime of their composition, although their technical difficulties should havebeen within the competence of the young virtuoso even at the age of 14. Forkelconcludes his story by adding that Bach was rewarded by Keyserlingk with a goldcup filled with a hundred louis d'or. His biography of Bach, published in 1802,is the only evidence for this.The Aria on which the variations are basedwas included in the Clavier-buechlein copied in 1725 by Bach's second wife AnnaMagdalena, a Sarabande