Forkel's anecdote suggests Count von Keyserlingk commissioned the variations for his harpsichordist, Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, to play during his sleepless nights, rewarding Bach with a golden goblet filled with a hundred Louis d'or.
Composition History
The Goldberg Variations were published at the composer's expense by Balthasar Schmid, an engraver and printer in Nuremberg, in either 1740 or 1741.
Compositional Technique
Bach's Goldberg Variations use the term 'Veränderung' (transformation) instead of 'Variation', indicating that the work is founded on the Aria's bass and harmony, not just melodic modifications.
Composition History
The popular nickname 'Goldberg Variations' comes from Johann Nikolaus Forkel's 1802 biography of J. S. Bach, which claimed Bach wrote the work for Count von Keyserlingk, a Russian ambassador who suffered from insomnia.
Composition History
The title page of the Goldberg Variations does not mention Count von Keyserlingk, which casts doubt on Forkel's anecdote, as it was customary for composers to include patrons' names for commissioned works.
Composer's Artistic Vision
The final variation, the Quodlibet, humorously superimposes the Aria's bass with two folk songs, one complaining about the composer's 'cooking' and the other asking the Aria to return.
Compositional Technique
The Goldberg Variations are structured with a canonic variation every three variations, arranged in ascending order (unison, second, third, etc.), creating a ternary punctuation throughout the work.
