Goldberg Variations

      The Goldberg Variations  (1741)

            A Good Article on the Goldberg Variations     Another Good Article 

              1.  What are the Goldberg Variations?

            The main theme is a lovely, simple aria Bach composed for his wife. 

            Each of the thirty variations retains the aria's structure of two 16-bar halves, the first rising 

      from tonic to dominant, and the second, through a chromatic excursion, returning back home 

      to the tonic.  But within that basic design, they comprise an amazing abundance of styles and 

      moods. 

 

            Every third variation is a canon in which regular repetitions of a simple melody overlap and 

      intermingle (as in “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”).  The first canon (variation # 3) is in unison (ie: 

      each repetition begins on the same note as the original), and then the intervals increase: #6 is at 

      the second, #9 at the third, all the way up to #27 at a ninth. 

            In between the canons are a lusty dance (#4), a graceful waltz (#7), a fugue (#10), swirling 

      harp-like arpeggiations (#11), a dreamy reverie (#15), an overture (#16), a quidoblet (#30, in 

      which Bach combines two folk songs) and, most striking of all, an astoundingly modern sound-

       ing chromatic meditation (#25) in which all conventional notions of tempo are suspended. 

            The technique ranges from rudimentary two-parts (the aria itself) to fiendishly difficult pass-

      ages of rapid note clusters (#s 14 and 23), blindingly fast trills (#28) and a furious sinuous line 

      split between the hands (#29), the intertwining parts of which are far harder to realize on modern 

      instruments than on those of Bach's time which had a separate keyboard for each hand.


              2.  Who was Glenn Gould (1932 - 1982)? 


              Note - Variations marked "2 Clav" indicates a double manual harpsichord.  Playing them on 
                          a (single manual) piano requires a lot of hand-crossing.   

                                                              Goldberg Variations - Bass Line

         Aria
         Variatio 1. a 1 Clav.   
         Variatio 2. a 1 Clav.
         Variatio 3. Canone all'Unisono. a 1 Clav.  (Every third variation is a canon!)
         Variatio 4. a 1 Clav.
         Variatio 5. a 1 ô vero 2 Clav.
         Variatio 6. Canone alla Seconda. a 1 Clav.
         Variatio 7. a 1 ô vero 2 Clav. al tempo di Giga
         Variatio 8. a 2 Clav.
         Variatio 9. Canone alla Terza. a 1 Clav.
         Variatio 10. Fughetta. a 1 Clav.
         Variatio 11. a 2 Clav.
         Variatio 12. a 1 Clav. Canone alla Quarta in moto contrario
         Variatio 13. a 2 Clav.
         Variatio 14. a 2 Clav.
         Variatio 15. Canone alla Quinta. a 1 Clav.: Andante
         Variatio 16. Ouverture. a 1 Clav.
         Variatio 17. a 2 Clav.
         Variatio 18. Canone alla Sesta. a 1 

         Variatio 19. a 1 Clav.
         Variatio 20. a 2 Clav.
         Variatio 21. Canone alla Settima
         Variatio 22. a 1 Clav. alla breve
         Variatio 23. a 2 Clav.
         Variatio 24. Canone all'Ottava. a 1 Clav.
         Variatio 25. a 2 Clav.: Adagio
         Variatio 26. a 2 Clav.
         Variatio 27. Canone alla Nona. a 2 Clav.
         Variatio 28. a 2 Clav.
         Variatio 29. a 1 ô vero 2 Clav.
         Variatio 30. a 1 Clav. Quodlibet
         Aria da Capo