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"The end is in the beginning

and lies far ahead..."

Goldberg Variations BWV 988                                Johann Sebastian Bach  (1685—1750)

     arranged for string trio by Dmitry Sitkovetsky

Sheffield Chamber Players
Megumi Stohs Lewis, violin
Alexander Vavilov, viola
Leo Eguchi, cello

Aria

Variatio 1

Variatio 2

Variatio 3 Canone all'Unisono

Variatio 4

Variatio 5

Variatio 6 Canone alla Seconda

Variatio 7 Al tempo di Giga

Variatio 8

Variatio 9 Canone alla Terza

Variatio 10 Fughetta

Variatio 11

Variatio 12 Canone alla Quarta

Variatio 13

Variatio 14

Variatio 15 Canone alla Quinta

Variatio 16 Ouverture

Variatio 17

Variatio 18 Canone alla Sesta

Variatio 19

Variatio 20

Variatio 21 Canone alla Settima

Variatio 22 Alla breve

Variatio 23

Variatio 24 Canone all'Ottava

Variatio 25 Adagio

Variatio 26

Variatio 27 Canone alla Nona

Variatio 28

Variatio 29

Variatio 30 Quodlibet

Aria

Bach's monumental Goldberg Variations is the stuff of legend, quite literally. The story goes that this profound work was composed for an insomniac Count, who is said to have requested a piece for his musician—Goldberg—to play to help him sleep, or cheer him if he couldn't. Bach's output of keyboard music was enormous, and this particular work seemed to have a special meaning to him, as it would to so many through the centuries. He went to great lengths to share it with the public even though very few of his other masterpieces (like The Well-Tempered Clavier) circulated much beyond the manuscript until after his death. In fact, his so-called Goldberg Variations are among very few works Bach published himself.

 

While Bach wrote very few sets of variations in his enormous output, he thought this form might best fit the bill (and complete his massive contribution to the keyboard repertoire), and it’s hard to argue with his wisdom. As his son Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach wrote in an obituary for his father, “he need only have heard any theme to be aware—it seemed in the same instant—of almost every intricacy that artistry could produce in the treatment of it.” The theme and variation genre seemed to invite Bach to explore this "intricacy of artistry." The structure of the form itself, as well as the additional layers of complexity he imposed on the work, perhaps freed him to explore the many different paths he could dream up.

 

While the veracity of the origin story of the Goldberg Variations is heavily disputed, whatever prompted Bach to write these variations resulted in one of the most transcendent and intricate works in all of Western Music. Originally written for a double manual harpsichord, it is also believed to be the largest keyboard work published during the 18th century (though the performance in this case will be a brilliant arrangement for string trio by the renowned violinist Dimitri Sitkovetsky).

 

Bach bases 30 variations on the descending bass line of a breathtaking, seemingly simple 32 bar Aria. The work displays a dazzling mastery of form, symmetry, and counterpoint, but it is the emotional impact of the work that draws me to it again and again. Over the span of about an hour, Bach takes us on an exploration of the depths of the human condition. As though tracing a lifetime, he captures exuberance, joy, sorrow, solitude, grace, humor, even a little mischief near the end, and then almost before you know it, you are returned to the Aria, identical to the first notes you heard, but transformed by this extraordinary journey.

“But that's getting too far ahead of the story, almost to the end, although the end is in the beginning and lies far ahead.”

– Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man

- Sasha Callahan

January - March 2020

Friday, January 31 at 7pm in Newton
Saturday, February 1 at 1:30pm in Cambridge
Sunday, February 2  at 1:30pm in Sudbury
Wednesday, February 5 at 7pm in Boston
Friday, February 7 at 7pm in Winchester
Saturday, February 8 at 7pm in Newton
Friday, February 28 at 7pm in Watertown
Saturday, February 29 at 1:30pm  in Lexington
Saturday, February 29 at 7pm in Wellesley
Saturday, March 21 at 7pm VIA LIVESTREAM

 

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