*Bach: the Goldgerg Variations
　　　　　Rosalyn Tureck from liner note for CD

　Bach's first publications were undertaken by himself, so that what we would consider his Opus 1 did not appear until 1726, when he was already 41 years old. The first publication was the first Partita in B flat major, BWV 825.
　Each of the six Partitas were published separately until 1731, when they were united into Volume One under the title Clavier Uebung. The Aria with Diverse Variations, Bach's "Aria mit verschiedenen Veraenderungen", forms the fourth book of this collection, the second being the French Overture and the Concert in the Italian Style, published by Christoh Wiegel c.1735, the containing the Schuebler Chorale Preludes for Organ and the Four Duets, published c.1739, again by Sebastian Bach.
　The fourth book, comprising the present great set of Variations, was taken over by the publisher Balthsar Schmid. No precise publication date is ascertainable because no date appeared in the first edition, but related evidence points to sometime in the year 1741.
　Johann Nikolaus Forkel, the "father" of musicology, has been responsible for responsible for the legendary background associating the harpsichordist Johan Gottlieg (Theophilus) Goldberg with the Aria with Diverse Variations. Having written the first comprehensive biography of Johann Sebastian Bach, On Johann Sebastian Bach's Life, Genius and Works, published in 1802 by Hoffmeister and Kuehnel, Forkel became a primary reference source for Bach, not only in his own time but also for musicians of succeeding generations. It is well known that in the biography he relates: "The Count [Keyserlingk] once said to Bach that he should like to have some clavier pieces for his Goldberg, which should be done of such soft and somewhat lively character that he might be a little cheered up by them in his sleepless nights." [The Bach Reader, ed. Hans T. David & Arthur Mendel, rev. ed., W. W. Norton & Co., Inc., New York, 1966, pp. 295-356.]
　Forkel adds that Bach recieved a golden goblet containing 100 louis d'or as a result of the Count's delight with the work. This implies a gift in appreciation rather than an agreed-in-advance commission fee. However, an assumption of a commission has been made by postrity. Evidence has not been found to confirm that this composition was in fact commissioned by Keyserlingk for Goldberg. The Count spent time in Leipzig during Bach's tenure at the Thomas- kirche, and Goldberg, a harpsichord prodigy attached to the household of Count Keyselingk, studied with Bach, as it explicitly stated by Bach's distinguished son, Carl Philipp Emanuel, and by Forkel.
　Count keyserlingk's request may have been a stimulus for Sebastian, but the form of composition that he chose was evolved from a tradition of variation form. Of particular interest is the fact that his own uncle Johann Christoph (1645-93) had composed two sets of variations, entitled respectively "Sarabanda dudecies variata" and "Aria Eberliniana pro dormiente Camilo, variata" (Aria Eberliniana, for sleeping Camilo, with variations). This set and the Sarabanda are in G major, as is Sebastian's Aria and 30 Variations.
　Likewise, Dietrich Buxtehude, whose influence on Sebastian was substantial, composed "La Capricciosa, partite diverse sopra un aria d'inventione" ("La Capricciosa, diverse movements/variations on an original aria"), also in G major, with the first four bars of his aria quoting the opening bars of a well- known folk-song "Kraut und Rueben haben mich vertrieben" ("Cabbage and turnips drove me away"). This is one of the folksongs that Sebastian uses in Variation 30. "La Capricciosa" has 32 variations, and if one considers the aria and its return after Variation 30 as two movements, the Goldberg Variations also traverse 32 movements.

　The creative musical and intellectual processes in the "Aria with Diverse Variations" reflect a mode of thought that represents one of the most far-ranging in all Western music, a modality expressed by the searching out of the potentialities of limited and unchanging fundamental materials. This method, as applied to fugal form and contrapuntal devices in particular, was traditional in musical education in Sebastian's time; it offered moreover the advantage of freeing Bach's inventiveness.
　The Aria is built upon a strong, simple harmonic base which upholds an edifice capable of virtually endless possibilities of structure. Thus, the variations encompass canons, fughettas, free imitation, dance forms, ornamental and figurative style. The combination of limitattion - the contrast harmonic relationships of the base line - and the latent freedom of this structuring, at first glance a paradox in principle, is in reality and practice the sure path to the stimulation of inventiness.
　Within the elements of constancy and diversity, th ework is composed as an integrated musical edifice. The shape of the totality must always be kept in mind, both by the performaer and the listener. The relationships of movement to movement are of the essence in fulfilling the placement and functionof each variation and their continuing mutuality of relationships within the totality of the whole organism. Thus, these 30 Variations are built essentially upon the ground bass of the Aria; its implicit harmonic relationships form the literal base support for the entire range of Bach's explorations in 30 different ways.
　The order and structure of the 30 Variations are built around a central paln of the nine strict canons. Each canon is surrounded by two variations, which, however free, are alive with contrapuntal interests. The two free variations surrounding each canon form a sort of flesh and blood for the overall skeletal structure of the variations. The first canon, Variation 3, is built on the unison. Each succeeding canon is composed on a progressively larger interval, always constant to the harmonic directions of the Aria's bass, ending with the last strict canon, at the ninth, in Variation 27. These canons are worked in three parts, with the bass forming the free-moving third part that operates within its fundamental frame work of harmonic modulation and resolution. The canon at the ninth is the only exception to this three part structure. It appears in only two voices, canonically strict, and deceptively simple, following as it does the enormous complexity of structure, depth and intensity of emotion which have been built up in the proceeding 26 variations
　Variation 1 calls up a version of a great archway to the experience awaiting us. Variation 2 is a contrasted delicate movement, structured in the two-part imitation of its soprano and alto. It points the way to the variety of devices which may be expected, and gently leads to the amazing canon at the unison in Variation 3. The stage is set for variety of mood, figure and structure. Henceforth, with the exception of great fugues, almost every aspect of Bach's art comes into play. The free variations often contrast with each other in dance and toccata-like styles. Always, the variations, including the canons, are concieved in terms of their past and successive relationships of density and structure, as well as of of musical figurations and characterizations. Variation 15 is an unparalleled example of chromatic writing combining breadth and a brilliant reminder of the freedom of profound emotion expressed within the very confined limits of a two-part canon; its ending note comes not on the conventional tonic, but on the fifth, ascending into silence. Like variation 25, the chromaticism of these two variations reaches a deep response in the aesthetic and structural sensibilities of 20th-century musicians. Moreover, Variation 15 and 25 are pieces which, for intensity of emotional expression and brilliance of chromatic structure, Bach sometimes equalled, as in the B minor Fugue from Book I of The Well-Tempered Clavier, but never surpassed. Arnold Schoenberg expressed to me his view that this Fugue ib the first 12-tone composition.
　Variation 30 is a joke, composed in the form of a quodlibet, a kind of musical prank, and one in which the Bach family and their freinds are said to have indulged on social ocasions. This Quodlibet is built upon folksongs sung in four parts. They are composed in contrapuntal relationships to each other. Here Bach employs two folksongs: "Ich bin so lang nicht bei dir gewest" ("I have not been with you for so long") and "Kraut und Rueben haben mich vertrieben" ("Cabbage and turnips drove me away").
　The humorous and good-natured style of the last variation of this colossal work reminds one of the good humourof the last Fugue, in B minor, in Book II of The Well-Tempered Clavier, finishing off, as it does, a great and varied collection of elaborately concieved works. This parallel illuminates an interesting facet of Bach's personality, which expresses itself, consciously or unconsciously, in a sense of style reflecting geniality and good humour as the last idea in the unfolding of a form which has been worked out in numerous far-ranging ways.
　The actual ending of the 30 Variations is given to the return of the Aria. This return to the beginning, following the unfolding of the Aria's potential in the experiencing of a cavalcade of multifaceted ideas and expression, completes the life cycle. This return is not a repeat; it is a return to the source. The very return to the beginning carries with it a fundamental sense of renewal and, as such, reveals yet a new meaning. The form is not circular, therefore, but cyclical, moving to a new plane of version and perception. This return to the beginning, this end-beginning, is one of the most sublime moments in all music.