Ravinia 2025 Issue 1

MARTIN THEATRE 7:30 PMWEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 2025 ANGELA HEWITT, piano Bach’s Goldberg Variations 50th Anniversary Tour BACH Aria mit verschiedenen Veränderungen (Clavierübung, Part IV) , BWV 988 (“Goldberg Variations”) Aria Var. 1 a 1 Clav. Var. 2 a 1 Clav. Var. 3 Canone all’Unisono a 1 Clav. Var. 4 a 1 Clav. Var. 5 a ovvero 2 Clav. Var. 6 Canone alla Seconda a 1 Clav. Var. 7 a 1 ovvero 2 Clav. Var. 8 a 2 Clav. Var. 9 Canone alla Terza a 1 Clav. Var. 10 Fughetta a 1 Clav. Var. 11 a 2 Clav. Var. 12 Canone alla Quarta Var. 13 a 2 Clav. Var. 14 a 2 Clav. Var. 15 Canone alla Quinta in moto contrario. a 1 Clav. Var. 16 Ouverture a 1 Clav. Var. 17 a 2 Clav. Var. 18 Canone alla sesta a 1 Clav. Var. 19 a 1 Clav. Var. 20 a 2 Clav. Var. 21 Canone alla Settima Var. 22 Alla breve a 1 Clav. Var. 23 a 2 Clav. Var. 24 Canone all’Ottava a 1 Clav. Var. 25 a 2 Clav. Var. 26 a 2 Clav. Var. 27 Canone alla Nona Var. 28 a 2 Clav. Var. 29 a 1 ovvero 2 Clav. Var. 30 Quodlibet a 1 Clav. Aria da capo There will be no intermission in this program. JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685–1750) Aria mit verschiedenen Veränderungen (Clavierübung, Part IV) , BWV 988 (“Goldberg Variations”) Bach solidified another musical connection with Dresden—the electoral seat and political center of Saxony—with the composition of his Aria mit verschiedenen Veränderungen (Aria with Diverse Variations). These variations for two-manual harpsichord evolved over a period of several years. The aria theme dates from at least 1725—early in Bach’s long tenure as Kan- tor at St. Thomas and Director of Music for the city of Leipzig (1723–50)—when he entered it into the Clavier-Büchlein for his second wife, Anna Magdalena Bach. A decade and a half later, the Nürnberg printer Balthasar Schmid published this colossal set of variations as the fourth volume of Clavierübung (Keyboard Ex- ercise, 1741), a series “produced to delight the soul of music lovers.” Manuscript copies of the variations, based on this published edition, continued to circulate within Bach’s circle for years after his death. The background narrative to the “Aria with Diverse Variations” originated in an early bi- ographical sketch and inventory of Bach’s works by Johann Nikolaus Forkel (1802). Her- mann Karl, Count von Keyserlingk (1697– 1764)—the Russian ambassador to the court in Dresden and an occasional visitor to nearby Leipzig—requested a new keyboard work for a young musician in his service, Johann Gottlieb Goldberg (which gave rise to its popular title: Goldberg Variations ). “The count was often sickly and then had sleepless nights,” according to Forkel. “At these times, Goldberg, who lived in the house with him, had to pass the night in an adjoining room to play something to him when he could not sleep.” According to Forkel, the count heard Bach’s variations regularly, but never tired of the music. He affectionately re- ferred to them as “my variations” and rewarded the composer with a golden goblet filled with 100 Louis d’or coins. More importantly, Key- serlingk later assisted Bach in his successful ef- forts to become court Kapellmeister attached to the Saxon court, an honorary title proudly ad- vertised on the title page of the published score of the “Aria with Diverse Variations.” Count von Keyserlingk had discovered Gold- berg (1727–1756) in Danzig (now, Gdańsk) in Polish Prussia and supported the prodigy early in his career. Though barely 10 years old, Gold- berg moved to Dresden in 1737. He reportedly studied keyboard with Johann Sebastian Bach (or, possibly, his eldest son Wilhelm Friede- mann Bach), though there is no documenta- tion supporting that claim. Goldberg remained in Keyserlingk’s service for the remainder of his first ambassadorial appointment (1733–45), then the young musician disappeared from the record for the next five years. Another influ- ential figure at the Saxon court—the prime RAVINIAMAGAZINE • JUNE 6 – JUNE 15, 2025 70