Johann Sebastian Bach
Goldberg Variations (1741, version for strings by Dmitry Sitkoevsky, 1985)
Bach wrote his Aria mit verschiedenen Veränderungen (or Aria with diverse Variations) in 1741; they were published as part of his Clavier-Übung, op. 4, in 1742. Popularly known as the Goldberg Variations, after their likely first performer, one Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, they stand at the summit of Bach’s output for the keyboard.
All of the variations – indeed, the form of the whole piece – is governed by numbers derived from three and eight. The opening Aria is thirty-two bars long, and divided into two, sixteen-measure-long halves. The thirty variations can be grouped into ten sets of three, the third of which is always a canon beginning at a different interval. They can be further divided into two halves, which mirrors the form of the opening Aria: in this reading, the sixteenth variation, a French overture, marks the beginning of the Variations’ second half. If we include the Aria and its reprise at the very end of the piece, there are thirty-two movements in all, reflecting the thirty-two-bar duration of the Aria.
Each variation is remarkable in its own right. Some, like the seventh, a gigue, draw on dance forms. Others, like the dreamy thirteenth, offer beautifully spun-out elaborations of the theme. Throughout, the music grows more complex and chromatic. Over the last six variations, there’s a clear sense of the music building inevitably towards its climax. That apex arrives rather unexpectedly in the form of a quodlibet that incorporates the melodies from a pair of popular songs of the day – “I Haven’t Been With You For So Long” and “Cabbage and Turnips” – and plays them over an elaboration of the Aria’s bass line. It’s a marriage of the sublime and banal such as few composers in history have pulled off so successfully. After this movement, the Aria returns for a final statement, providing a clear sense of just how much the music has been developed.
In the early 19th century, Johann Nikolaus Forkel, Bach’s first biographer, propagated a story that the Goldberg Variations were written for the late-night entertainment of the insomniac diplomat, Count Kaiserling. That tale is most likely spurious. But it does contain at least a grain of truth: On the title page of the original publication, Bach wrote that the Variations were “composed for music lovers, to refresh their spirits.” So they do, and in various instrumental guises. Dmitry Sitkoevsky’s arrangement of the piece for strings, heard on these WCMS concerts is, perhaps, the most frequently performed rethinking of the Goldbergs to date.
© Jonathan Blumhofer
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