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J.S. Bach: Goldberg Variationen - Add a foreword page (in english)
Signed-off-by: Davide Madrisan <[email protected]>
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| ## Process this file with automake to produce Makefile.in | ||
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| ## Copyright (c) 2023 Davide Madrisan <[email protected]> | ||
| ## Copyright (c) 2023-2024 Davide Madrisan <[email protected]> | ||
| ## | ||
| ## This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify | ||
| ## it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by | ||
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@@ -62,7 +62,8 @@ EXTRA_DIST = JS-Bach-BWV988-Goldberg-Variationen.ly \ | |
| parts/bach-goldberg-variationen-27-variatio.ly \ | ||
| parts/bach-goldberg-variationen-28-variatio.ly \ | ||
| parts/bach-goldberg-variationen-29-variatio.ly \ | ||
| parts/bach-goldberg-variationen-30-variatio.ly | ||
| parts/bach-goldberg-variationen-30-variatio.ly \ | ||
| preface.ly | ||
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| all: $(BUILT_SOURCES) JS-Bach-BWV988-Goldberg-Variationen | ||
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src/johann-sebastian-bach/goldberg-variationen-BWV988/preface.ly
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| \markup \fill-line { | ||
| \center-column \abs-fontsize #18 \smallCaps \bold { | ||
| "Preface" | ||
| \null\null\null | ||
| } | ||
| } | ||
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| \markup \column \abs-fontsize #10 { | ||
| \null | ||
| \line { | ||
| \hspace #2 | ||
| Rather unusually for Bach's works, the “Goldberg Variations” were published in his own lifetime, in 1741. | ||
| } | ||
| \line { | ||
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| The publisher was Bach's friend Balthasar Schmid of Nuremberg. | ||
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| It is named after \italic { Johann Gottlieb Goldberg } (1727-1756), a German virtuoso harpsichordist, | ||
| organist, | ||
| } | ||
| \line { | ||
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| and composer, who may also have been the first performer of the work. | ||
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| \null | ||
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| The story of how the “Goldberg Variations” came to be composed comes from an early biography of | ||
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| Bach by \italic { Johann Nikolaus Forkel: } | ||
| } | ||
| \vspace #1 | ||
| \line \abs-fontsize #34 { \hspace #2 "“" } | ||
| \vspace #0.4 | ||
| } | ||
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| \markup { | ||
| \fill-line { | ||
| \center-column { | ||
| \override #'(line-width . 80) | ||
| \override #'(indent . 20) | ||
| \justify \italic \abs-fontsize #10 { | ||
| [For this work] we have to thank the instigation of the former Russian ambassador to the electoral | ||
| court of Saxony, Count Kaiserling, who often stopped in Leipzig and brought there with him the | ||
| aforementioned Goldberg, in order to have him given musical instruction by Bach. | ||
| The Count was often ill and had sleepless nights. At such times, Goldberg, who lived in his house, | ||
| had to spend the night in an antechamber, so as to play for him during his insomnia. [...] | ||
| Once the Count mentioned in Bach's presence that he would like to have some clavier pieces for Goldberg, | ||
| which should be of such a smooth and somewhat lively character that he might be a little cheered up by | ||
| them in his sleepless nights. Bach thought himself best able to fulfill this wish by means of Variations, | ||
| the writing of which he had until then considered an ungrateful task on account of the repeatedly similar | ||
| harmonic foundation. But since at this time all his works were already models of art, such also these | ||
| variations became under his hand. Yet he produced only a single work of this kind. | ||
| Thereafter the Count always called them his variations. | ||
| He never tired of them, and for a long time sleepless nights meant: | ||
| “Dear Goldberg, do play me one of my variations.” Bach was perhaps never so rewarded for one of his works | ||
| as for this. | ||
| The Count presented him with a golden goblet filled with 100 Louis d'or. | ||
| Nevertheless, even had the gift been a thousand times larger, their artistic value would not yet have been | ||
| paid for. | ||
| } | ||
| } | ||
| } | ||
| } | ||
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| \markup \column \abs-fontsize #10 { | ||
| \vspace #1 | ||
| \line { | ||
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| Forkel wrote his biography in 1802, more than 60 years after the events related, and its accuracy has been | ||
| } | ||
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| questioned. The lack of dedication on the title page also makes the tale of the commission unlikely. | ||
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| \line { | ||
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| Goldberg's age at the time of publication (14 years) has also been cited as grounds for doubting Forkel's | ||
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| tale, although it must be said that he was known to be an accomplished keyboardist and sight-reader. | ||
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| \null | ||
| \line { | ||
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| After a statement of the \italic aria at the beginning of the piece, there are thirty variations | ||
| (and the aria \italic da \italic capo). | ||
| } | ||
| \line { | ||
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| The variations do not follow the melody of the aria, but rather | ||
| \italic { use its bass line and chord progression. } | ||
| } | ||
| \line { | ||
| \hspace #2 | ||
| Every third variation in the series of 30 is a \italic canon, following an ascending pattern. | ||
| Thus, variation 3 is | ||
| } | ||
| \line { | ||
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| a canon at the unison, variation 6 is a canon at the second, variation 9 is a canon at the third, and so on | ||
| } | ||
| \line { | ||
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| until variation 27, which is a canon at the ninth. The final variation, instead of being the expected canon | ||
| } | ||
| \line { | ||
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| in the tenth, is a \italic quodlibet | ||
| (a composition that combines the theme with a few polular melodies in counterpoint, | ||
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| \line { | ||
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| in a light-hearted, humorous manner.) | ||
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| \line { | ||
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| The entire set of variations can be seen as being divided into two halves, clearly marked by the grand | ||
| } | ||
| \line { | ||
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| \italic { French overture } (variatio 16). | ||
| The note-for-note repetition of the aria at the beginning (aria da capo) makes | ||
| } | ||
| \line { | ||
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| the composition even more symmetrical. | ||
| } | ||
| } | ||
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| \markup \column \abs-fontsize #10 { | ||
| \null\null | ||
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| [\italic { freely taken from Wikipedia }] | ||
| } | ||
| } | ||
| \pageBreak | ||
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| \markup \center-column { | ||
| \null\null\null | ||
| \line { | ||
| \hspace #18 | ||
| \general-align #Y #DOWN { | ||
| \epsfile #X #72 #"Johann-Sebastian-Bach-oil-canvas-Elias-Gottlieb-1746.eps" | ||
| } | ||
| } | ||
| \null | ||
| \line \italic { | ||
| \hspace #18 | ||
| { \bold "Johann Sebastian Bach" } \char ##x2014 "oil canvas Elias Gottlob Haußmann (1746)" | ||
| } | ||
| \null | ||
| } | ||
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| \markup \column \abs-fontsize #10 { | ||
| \null | ||
| \line { | ||
| \hspace #2 | ||
| When Bach's personal copy of the printed edition of the “Goldberg Variations” was discovered in 1974, it was | ||
| } | ||
| \line { | ||
| \hspace #2 | ||
| found to include an \italic { appendix in the form of fourteen canons } built on the first eight bass notes | ||
| from the aria. | ||
| } | ||
| \line { | ||
| \hspace #2 | ||
| It is speculated that the number 14 refers to the ordinal values of the letters in the composer's name: | ||
| } | ||
| } | ||
| \markup \center-column \abs-fontsize #10 \italic { | ||
| \null | ||
| \fill-line { | ||
| "B(2) + A(1) + C(3) + H(8) = 14." | ||
| } | ||
| } | ||
| \markup \column \abs-fontsize #10 { | ||
| \null | ||
| \line { | ||
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| The portrait of Bach commissioned for his entry into Mizler's | ||
| \italic { “Sozietät der Musicalischen Wissenschaften” } | ||
| } | ||
| \line { | ||
| \hspace #2 | ||
| (Bach waited until he was the 14th member to be admitted to the society), depicts him holding the | ||
| manuscript | ||
| } | ||
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| to BWV 1076, which is also the thirteenth canon in the Goldberg Canon cycle: | ||
| } | ||
| \null | ||
| } | ||
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| \include "JS-Bach-BWV1087-13-canon-triplex-six.ly" |