Bach's earliest biographer, Johann Nicolaus Forkel, claimed the Goldberg Variations were written for Count Hermann Carl von Keyserlingk, Russia's ambassador to Dresden, to help with his chronic insomnia.
Interpretation
The performer, Marcin Świątkiewicz, uses a harpsichord with a 16-foot register, which sounds an octave lower, offering a new perspective on the work.
Instruments
The harpsichord used for this recording was made by Matthias Kramer in 2016, modeled after 18th-century German instruments, and features a pedal mechanism for engaging various registers.
Compositional Technique
Bach's Goldberg Variations consists of an Aria and 30 variations, with every third variation structured as a canon.
Composition History
The Goldberg Variations were published as the fourth and final part of Bach's Clavierübung collection in late 1741 or early 1742.
Compositional Technique
The final variation, instead of a canon, is a complex contrapuntal quodlibet, meaning 'what you please,' weaving together two German folk songs.
