Bach's Goldberg Variations

"model, according to which all variations should be made" - Johann Nicolaus Forkel, 1802

These words by Forkel describing J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations are commonly accepted as truth throughout the world of music. This set of variations is considered by many to be the most significant composition ever written for harpsichord. During the Baroque era the market was dominated by amateur players using the music for nothing more than entertainment. Despite the initial low sales he would inevitably endure Bach made it clear that this piece was not for the mediocre amateur but for professional players. The ornamentation complexities alone are enough to scare away many players. Containing over 160 ornaments, this harpsichord masterpiece could be heard thousands of times without ever hearing the same interpretation twice.

The 1741 work of Bach opens with a simple aria creating a ground bass harmonic progression on which the 30 variations are based. The piece ends with the aria being played again; while it is the exact same aria being played at the end of the piece it has an entirely different sound after the listener has heard all thirty variations. The variations are divided into ten sets of three (var. 1-3 is a set, 4-6, etc.). The first of each set is based on any of several dance suites used in the Baroque dance suites of Bach's time. The second variation of each set is in the form of an etude; while some of these etudes are arpeggiated and others follow scale patterns they all test the players ability to cross the hands at rapid tempos which becomes exceedingly difficult when playing on a one manual instrument like the modern piano. The third and final variation of each set is a canon. The first canon is in unison, the second at the interval of a second, the third at the third, etc.

The Aria has a fairly simply harmonic progression that fits into the typical binary form that most Baroque music follows, beginning in the tonic, modulating to the dominant, then progressing back to the tonic. Most of the variations fit the same harmonic progression measure for measure throughout all 32 measure except for variation 16, the only variation with more or less than 32 measures (it contains 47). This variation is in the style of a French Overture, straying from Bach's variation pattern, sticking out like a sore thumb from the previous 15 variations. This was surely Bach's intention as this variation marks the beginning of the second half of the piece. While Bach keeps his initial patterns for the majority of the second half it is clearly different from the first half and is often performed on its own. Whether or not it was Bach's intention at the time these variations have become widely regarded as one of the most important sets ever written and the switch from harpsichord to piano has done nothing to diminish that.