Progetto Martha Argerich

italiano

Works

Johann Sebastian Bach

“Goldberg” Variations BWV 988

 

The theme-with-variations genre was much in vogue in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century instrumental music, for keyboard as well as for string instruments. One of the most famous and widely-known examples was the set of variations on La Follia di Spagna – the twelfth (and last) of Arcangelo Corelli’s Sonatas for violin and basso continuo, Op. 5; this collection was published in 1700 and remained for decades a point of departure for violinists. The “varied theme” originated as a highly virtuosic genre, meant to show off the technical gifts of great instrumental soloists, who, in that sense, could rival the most celebrated and highly-paid singers of the day. The form flooded the printed-music market, especially for the piano, and in the 1800s it became a particularly popular product. An abundance of works of this sort, often connected to successful opera seasons, came into being. Variations were created on fashionable themes from the latest operas, and it goes without saying that these works had to be written quickly, before the novelty had worn off. At the same time, they could not be too difficult or demanding, because they had to find favour with amateurs.

Of course not all composers always saw the “varied theme” in so highly utilitarian and commercial a light. The history of the theme with variations includes many exceptions and nuances, and among the most famous of these works are several compositions by such great figures as Bach and Beethoven. Indeed, Bach’s “Goldberg” Variations and Beethoven’s Thirty-three Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli constitute two of the most brilliant examples of how the most traditional rules of the “varied theme” – as conceived by eighteenth- and nineteenth-century virtuosi – were turned upside-down, and a completely new concept was achieved. As Alberto Basso has written in his exemplary book, Frau Musika, in Bach’s case “the prodigious attention towards musical constructivism and the pure impulse to traverse every level of speculation regarding the system of sounds and their organisation in geometric, symbolic concatenations, were what invaded Bach’s mind during his last ten years, soliciting the solution of that problem and inducing him to create a new structural principle that would tear apart and discard its predecessor.”

The “Goldberg” Variations BWV 988 represent one of the greatest examples of this particular approach, which Bach used to conjoin his esprit de géométrie with a concept of the variation that went far beyond the boundaries of the typically ornamental style that commonly characterised it at the time. According to Forkel, Bach’s first biographer, the composition was the result of a request from Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, one of Bach’s pupils, for a fairly long harpsichord composition that would lighten the sleepless nights of Count von Keyserlingk. But more than legitimate doubts have been raised about this tale’s authenticity, because – among other reasons – the work, with all its difficulties, is not of a sort that would help whoever played it to relax and fall asleep. In any case, the “Goldberg” Variations (originally called Aria mit verschiedenen Veränderungen – Aria with several variations) first appeared in print towards the end of 1741, as the fourth part of the Klavierübung (Keyboard Practice). The aria, which serves as a pretext for the thirty variations that follow it, is by Bach himself, and it is repeated at the end of the composition – so that the work is in a strongly symmetrical format consisting of 32 elements (Aria – Variations 1-30 – Aria). At the exact halfway point in the piece, Variation 16 is a French-style ouverture with a fugue-like second part. Each piece is in two-part form, and they are all in the original key (G Major) excepting Nos. 15, 21 and 25, which are in G minor. Within these coordinates, however, many pieces are in the antique style: Nos. 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24 and 27 are canons; No. 10 is a fughetta; No. 22 is a fugue alla breve; and N. 30 is a quodlibet. There is an ongoing osmosis between virtuosity and contrapuntal rigour that is typical of Bach’s late works.

1. Aria
2. Variatio 1 a 1 Clav.
3. Variatio 2 a 1 Clav.
4. Variatio 3 a 1 Clav. Canone all’Unisono
5. Variatio 4
6. Variatio 5 a 1 ovvero 2 Clav.
7. Variatio 6 a 1 Clav. Canone alla Seconda
8. Variatio 7 a 1 ovvero 2 Clav.
9. Variatio 8 a 2 Clav.
10. Variatio 9 a 1 Clav. Canone alla Terza
11. Variatio 10 a 1 Clav. Fughetta
12. Variatio 11 a 2 Clav.
13. Variatio 12 Canone alla Quarta
14. Variatio 13 a 2 Clav.
15. Variatio 14 a 2 Clav.
16. Variatio 15 a 1 Clav. Canone alla Quarta. Andante
17. Variatio 15 a 1 Clav. Ouverture
18. Variatio 17 a 2 Clav.
19. Variatio 18 a 1 Clav. Canone alla Sesta
20. Variatio 19 a 1 Clav.
21. Variatio 20 a 2 Clav.
22. Variatio 21 Canone alla Settima
23. Variatio 22 a 1 Clav. Alla breve
24. Variatio 23 a 2 Clav.
25. Variatio 24 a 1 Clav. Canone all’Ottava
26. Variatio 25 a 2 Clav.
27. Variatio 26 a 2 Clav.
28. Variatio 27 a 2 Clav. Canone alla Nona
29. Variatio 28 a 2 Clav.
30. Variatio 29 a 1 ovvero 2 Clav.
31. Variatio 30 a 1 Clav. Quodlibet
32. Aria da capo

Performers

Performance