Adapting Bach s Goldberg Variations for the Organ. Siu Yin Lie

Transcription

1 Adapting Bach s Goldbeg Vaiations fo the Ogan by Siu Yin Lie A Reseach Pape Pesented in Patial Fulfillment of the Requiements fo the Degee Docto of Musical Ats Appoved Apil 2017 by the Gaduate Supevisoy Committee: Walte Cosand, Chai Amy Holbook Kimbely Mashall ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY May 2017

2 ABSTRACT This ceative poect povides an adaptation of S Bach s Goldbeg Vaiations, BWV 988, fo the Fitts Ogan at Aizona State Univesity This ogan was designed and built by Paul Fitts and Co in 1992, and is in the style of the high-baoque instuments of Nothen Euope Along with the musical scoe of the adaptation, this document discusses the egistation choices included as well as elevant histoical and pefomance pactice details about the piece A link to the ecoding of the autho s Apil 2017 pefomance of this edition of the Goldbeg Vaiations on the ASU Fitts Ogan is included with the poect i

3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION 1 HISTORICAL CONSIDERATIONS 3 PUBLICATION AND PERFORMANCE HISTORY 8 SOME FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS 13 TECHNIQUE OF ARRANGEMENT 18 A VARIATION-BY-VARIATION DISCUSSION 21 WORKS CITED 36 APPENDIX A: GOLDBERG VARIATIONS BWV 988 FOR ORGAN 38 B: A LINK TO THE RECORDING 135 ii

4 INTRODUCTION This poect began with my leaning the Goldbeg Vaiations (BWV 988) so that I could pefom the entie wok fo the fist time duing my gaduate study While pepaing fo my pefomance of the wok on piano, I was also continuing my ogan study on the wondeful Fitts ogan that we ae so fotunate to have at Aizona State Univesity, and like a tiny spak that gows into a massive flame, it became moe and moe obvious to me that I should also lean to play the Goldbeg Vaiations on ogan To date, thee have been only a few ecodings of the wok on ogan, and any adaptations that wee made in the pocess wee fo pesonal use only and not in pint What makes my poect unusual is that my adaptation is by a pefome who is pimaily a pianist and also poficient on ogan, and so my appoach to the piece may be quite diffeent in style fom the past ecodings made by oganists Also, though it is a moden instument, the ASU Fitts ogan was ceated in a style simila to that of the Noth Geman ogans Bach would have played The instument is inspied by Geman and Dutch baoque models and so has two manuals: Hauptwek (which is called Geat in English), the main division based on Pincipal 16, and Untewek, a lage positive division located unde the Hauptwek, based on Pincipal 4 Its chaacteistics make it a paticulaly suitable ogan fo pefomance of these vaiations In the discussion leading up to a full scoe of the adaptation, I offe an oveview of the pefomance histoy and pefomance pactice of the wok, especially suveying the adaptations that ae cuently available; a consideation of Bach s attitude towad the playing of his keyboad woks on instuments othe than the oiginal intended one; and 1

5 notes on making appopiate egistation choices fo the ogan in light of the consideable technical challenges the piece pesents 2

6 HISTORICAL CONSIDERATIONS Bach was Thomaskanto when these vaiations wee completed, past the age of 50 He had aleady composed most of his mao woks and was neaing etiement age Given that it was this peiod in his life, thee is an expeimental natue and eflective quality to this wok The famewok with which Bach composed the Goldbeg Vaiations shows an effot to poduce a set of vaiations compehensive in its musical styles and techniques and oganized to a logical whole The vaiations geneally keep the main notes of the bass line and the binay stuctue of the theme, but even given these limitations Bach includes an impessive aay of canons Bach s exploation of canon and his explicit statement of thei use in this piece (he titles evey thid vaiation Canone all Unisuono, Canone alla Seconda, Canone alla Teza, and so foth) may show the influence of a musical authoity and fome student, Loenz Chistoph Mizle, fom aound the 1730s Mizle founded the Societät de musikalischen Wissenschaften (Society of Music Sciences), and he was inteested in the philosophical, histoical, mathematical-acoustic, and hetoical-poetic foundations of music not so much music itself as in eveything that could somehow be bought into connection with it (Eidam 295) Though Bach s ealy biogaphes mention a distinct change, a moe theoetical component, in the compose s style duing this late peiod, Bach s son Cal Philipp Emanuel Bach also wote about his fathe s disdain fo the Society of Music Sciences and Mizle s aim to bing music completely into the fom of a science: My late fathe, he wites in his obituay, was no fiend of dy theoetical stuff And in anothe place he adds: It is tue that ou late Bach did not occupy himself 3

7 with deep theoetical eflections on music, but he was all the moe outstanding in the pactice of the at (Eidam 295) Bach s outight labeling of the canon vaiations may have been indicative of his eaction against the inceasing emphasis on a theoetical undestanding of music Bach s eaction was not entiely seious, but shows a hint of what Eidam calls a kindly, mischievous humo (Eidam 41) The pactice of using a seies of canons, at consecutively widening intevals, goes back to the 16 th centuy, but it was quite ambitious of Bach to employ this technique on such a gand scale Also conside that the 30 th and final vaiation, the famous Quodlibet, is made up of the popula tunes It s So Long Since I ve Been with You and Cabbage and Tunips Dove Me Away, even though the Goldbeg Vaiations is geneally egaded as a lofty, seious wok The stoy behind the wok explains Bach s motivation fo composing it Accoding to biogaphes such as Eidam, Bach was acquainted with a Count von Keyselingk, who had in his employment an unusually gifted young hapsichodist named ohann Gottlieb Goldbeg: Because he suffeed fom insomnia, Impeial Count von Keyselingk odeed a little night music fom Bach fo Goldbeg to play Fo such a pupose, any conventional compose would have poduced a composition that encouaged sleep not music that was boing, of couse, but something soothing nonetheless It is emakable that this most obvious appoach did not coss Bach s mind at all On the contay, though he did begin with a vey soothing aia in the vein of a folk song a lullaby, eally he then poduced thity vaiations on it that ae anything but soothing, that ae extemely exciting piece fo piece A cultivated connoisseu like Keyselingk could only fall ove himself with enthusiasm (and he did, as Bach s honoaium shows) (Eidam 285) Bach s honoaium was paid with a silve goblet filled to the bim with 100 louis d o (Eidam 284) The compose was definitely on geat tems with the Count The 4

8 Quodlibet s opening tune, It s So Long Since I ve Been with You, might efe to Bach s last visit to Keyselingk s home, and Cabbage and Tunips Dove Me Away could be a efeence to the fine dining they enoyed on that visit Bach ends the vaiation with the song With You, with You, to the Feathebed, with You, with You, to the Staw which is a sending-off of the count to bed (Eidam 285) Though pats of this stoy may be tue, such as Bach s elationship with Keyselingk, othe seious scholaship has cast much of it in doubt Goldbeg may have been too young at the time, and the fist pefomances of these vaiations wee pobably given by Bach s son Wilhelm Fiedemann, aleady a notable keyboadist at the time (Williams 5) Having lagely given up on composing litugical woks, Bach continued with the Clavieübung, and the Goldbeg Vaiations make up Volume Fou of this Keyboad Pactice Fo the following few geneations afte Bach s time, a lage pat of the Clavieübung, including Volume I (the Patitas) and Volume II (the Italian Conceto and Fench Ovetue), wee used as Bach intended, as pieces fo self-study athe than to be pefomed in public That it took almost a centuy befoe Bach s keyboad woks became an established pat of the standad pefomance epetoie could be due to the initial spase publication histoy as well as the late ealization that these woks could be pefomed on the fast-developing moden piano Obviously, the numbe of ecodings by the mao atists fom the last foty yeas shows how pemanent thei status in the epetoie has become Howeve, Bach s woks that ae played on the piano ae all adaptations The available instuments of the time wee the clavichod, hapsichod, and Bach s favoite 5

9 instument, the ogan an Chiapusso ( ), Bach specialist and teache of Rosalyn Tueck, wote: It is only natual that vaious musicians cheished a pefeence fo cetain instuments Bach aleady pefeed the ogan, patially because this instument was capable of ealizing the most complex contapuntal stuctues At the ogan he was maste of an entie ochesta The polyphonic ceations that flowed fom his pen could all be bought to sound by one peson only His patience need not be taxed with an unuly choi of boys; no with His Highness chambe musicians, whose musical compehension was consideably slowe than his own Above all, of couse, the ogan was the coe of the musical sevice in chuch and fulfilled his pimay desie to devote his genius to the exaltation of God s gloy (62) While copying the Goldbeg Vaiations into the music typesetting pogam Finale, I ecognized numeous elements of Bach s compositional ingenuity, especially in tems of his success at vaying the countepoint while keeping the bass line oughly the same I thought about ealie woks by othe composes that may have diectly influenced Bach s compositional style Bach was familia with the New Keyboad Pactice by ohann Kuhnau, published in 1689, the fist pat consisting of a set of seven suites that could be the diect pecedent fo Volume I of Bach s Clavieübung, the Patitas (Cosand 2) On the suface, the Goldbeg Vaiations ae highly oganized, since Bach gives them a logical ode, based on goupings of thee Beginning with the famous theme (aia) and the fist two vaiations, Va 3 is a canon at the unison Then, Va 6 is a canon at the second, and the patten continues, all the way to Va 27, canon at the ninth Two of the most impotant vaiations ae No 16, the Fench Ovetue, and No 30, the Quodlibet The Ovetue vaiation seems to divide the wok into a fist half and a second half Similaly, Volume I of Clavieübung (the six patitas) has an Ovetue that begins Patita No 4 and Volume II also divides into two pats, each beginning with an Ovetuehas an 6

10 Ovetue dividing it into two pats In tems of intensity, howeve, Va 16 is not a focal point, but athe a moment of special inteest The intensity level is at its highest in Vas 27-29, with block chods in both hands, simultaneous tills in two voices, and complicated textues These toccata-like vaiations ae followed by the Quodlibet, anothe vey special movement, which seves as a culmination of the pevious developments, yet it also softens the mood and povides a bief and pleasing tansition back to the Aia The wok is symmetical in that it begins and ends exactly the same way and e-stats in the cente with the Fench Ovetue (In the fist edition, Bach does not wite out the etun of the aia at the end, but ust designates Aia da Capo è Fine ) Despite this symmety, the focal point of the set is nea the end The oveall stuctue holds togethe the dispaate styles of the individual vaiations In this wok we hea all the elements of Bach the pogessive compose of his time 7

11 PUBLICATION AND PERFORMANCE HISTORY The Goldbeg Vaiations wee published as Volume IV of Clavieübung aound 1741 In his book fo the Cambidge Companion seies, Pete Williams povides a thoough account of the editoial histoy of this mastepiece Stating with the Bach Society Edition of 1853, he goes on to discuss hapsichodist Ralph Kikpatick s 1935 Schime edition The Henle edition by Rudolf Steglich (1962) is the one I used to lean the piece Fom a scholaly point of view, by fa the most authoitative is the Neue Bach-Ausgabe vol V/2 (Chistoph Wolff, 1977) and its Citical Commentay of 1981 (KB o Kitische Beicht, pp , 153-5) (8) Duing the fist half of the 20 th centuy, the Goldbeg Vaiations became moe widely known, due to successful pefomances by leading atists such as Wanda Landowska and Rosalyn Tueck Then came Glenn Gould s spectacula ecoding of 1955, which made him a household name and populaized the wok fo all The wok came to be known as a piano piece Doottya Fabian s assessment of the mao ecodings of the Goldbeg Vaiations fo a span of 30 yeas between 1945 and 1975 yields insight into the ways that the pefomance pactice of Bach s keyboad woks was established as an impotant aea of study and also into the main stylistic shifts that occued duing this post-wold Wa II peiod She compaes the intepetations of the aia and each vaiation, as pefomed by a wide vaiety of diffeent pianists, including Tueck, ózsef Gát, Wilhelm Kempff, Kal Richte, ög Demus, Igo Kipnis, and othes Fabian assembled a ecoding, with a chat detailing the tacks with pefome names fo all of the diffeent intepetations of each selected section (Fabian ) 8

12 As fo playing the Goldbeg Vaiations on ogan, that appeas to be a ecent phenomenon Thee have been only a few ecodings of the Goldbeg Vaiations on ogan, and thee is no ogan vesion eadily available in pint Though Naxos online, thee is a ecoding by uegen Sonnentheil on the Geald Woehl Ogan at St Petus Canisius in Fiedichshafen, Gemany Accoding to the CD, eleased in 2007 by Pesto Classical, this was a wold pemiee ecoding of an aangement made by Wilhelm Middelschulte ( ) Please see a desciption of this CD: wwwallmusiccom/album/wilhelm-middelschulte-ogan-woks-vol-4-goldbeg-vaiations-mw In the ecoding, the tempi ae vey slow fom a pianist s point of view, and given the natue of the lage ogan used, the huge sounds of ai ushing though the pipes make it seem like a completely diffeent piece Too diffeent, it seems, to get the clea aticulation that is the standad on hapsichod and piano * Although any pefomance of the Goldbeg Vaiations on ogan would pobably sound new and unfamilia, I believe that ASU s Fitts Ogan is a geat choice fo this ambitious endeavo I also believe that Bach would be open to the playing of his woks on keyboad instuments othe than the oiginal intended one, an idea that I discuss in moe detail late My main pupose, then, was to come up with an aangement that is effective musically and tue to the spiit of each vaiation Thee ae fou notable ogan ecodings, all poduced in the last decade o so In addition to Sonnentheil s ecoding of Middelschulte s aangement, Stephen Thap also * The intenet links povided in this document wee accessible in 2017 while the autho was woking on this poect 9

13 made a ecoding playing the Fitts Ogan at St oseph Cathedal in Columbus, Ohio pipe-ogan-ecodingscom/shop-now/fitts-ogan-saint-oseph-cathedal-stephen-thap-oganist-goldbeg-vaiations-detail The Fitts Ogan at St oseph Cathedal, also designed and built by Paul Fitts and his company in Tacoma, WA, is vey simila in style to ASU s, but it is lage, has consideably moe pipes and stops, and has thee manuals Fo a compaison, hee is an online desciption of ASU s Fitts Ogan: The instument at ASU is moe intimate, and moe suitable fo a medium-sized ogan hall at a music consevatoy than fo a lage cathedal A thid ecoding was made by Hansög Albecht in 2007 in Bad Gandesheim, Gemany, on a pize-winning Mühleisen ogan Fo photos, see: Accoding to Kimbely Mashall, in he eview of Albecht s CD, this Mühleisen ogan was inspied by Classical (Andeas and Gottfied Silbemann) and Romantic (Aistide Cavaillé-Coll) models, making it a moe moden ogan in constuction style than the Baoque-style ogan at ASU (664) The Mühleisen ogan also has thee manuals Afte an exhaustive intenet seach I was able to find one moe ecoding, of Daniel Sullivan playing an Aeolian-Skinne ogan, yet anothe type of ogan: This webpage povides some pesonal commentay by Sullivan about adapting the piece to be played on this instument In addition, Fench oganist and compose ean Guillou made a tansciption fo ogan in 1987 Guillou s ecoding of his tansciption is available, but unfotunately he did not publish the scoe: 10

14 wwwamazoncom/goldbeg-vaiations-ohann-sebastian-bach/dp/b000001q7t Guillou has tanscibed ove twenty woks fo ogan, fom othe Baoque mastepieces to woks by Mozat, such as the Adagio and Fugue in C Mino, K 546, oiginally fo sting ochesta, to Mussogsky s Pictues at an Exhibition Howeve, with the exception of the Musical Offeing BWV 1079, his Bach tansciptions emain unpublished Fo a list of Guillou s compositions, see: Recently I also discoveed music pint files uploaded to IMSLP by Geman oganist Thomas A Schneide, of eleven of the thity vaiations: Unde Sheet Music, in the categoy Aangements and Tansciptions Selections, Schneide s scoe appeas alone in the section Fo Ogan Fom his faculty pofile, it appeas he is also a pianist: Notably, his aangement is fo thee manuals and includes vey difficult pedal playing On Youtube, thee is also a vey beautiful ecoding of oganist Elena Bashai pefoming the wok at the Metzle Ogan in the St Pete and Paul Cathedal in Villmegen, Switzeland Bashai s pefomance is vey vituosic and shows a full command of the instument, and heaing he ecoding allowed me to ealize how this piece may take on a completely new and meaningful life when pefomed on an ogan in a lage chuch setting The music was intended fo keyboad pactice (as specified by Bach in the oiginal, elaboate title page) and some of the souce mateial came fom popula song 11

15 (fo the Quodlibet), but who is to say that this music may not be head in a moe spiitual manne, to have implications beyond its oiginal identity Also, take fo instance the famous tansciption of the Goldbeg Vaiations fo sting ochesta by Dmity Sitkovetsky This was ecoded in 1993 by the NES Chambe Ochesta, made up of leading stinged-instument playes fom all ove Euope, and poduced by Nonesuch ecods in 1995 Compaed with the ogan ecodings, Sitkovetsky s tansciption emoves the wok fom its litugical setting and concept and takes it back to the concet hall, yielding a fascinating esult Some of the vaiations ae paticulaly suitable fo legato playing as well as pizzicato plucking by stings, and imagine the ceative ways that the canon vaiations can be ochestated fo the diffeent stinged instuments Howeve, Sitkovetsky stays tue to the oiginal souce, and does not e-aange o add any music mateial Contast this with azz vesions of the Goldbeg Vaiations, which have also been popula lately Dan Tepfe, fo instance, plays the aia and a few of the vaiations exactly as pinted in Bach s scoe, but intespeses these potions with oiginal impovisations built fom the souce mateial: wwwyoutubecom/watchv=v8wgcb6yi The acques Loussie Tio plays ust enough of the vaiations fo the listene to ecognize the melodies, but most of thei pefomance is fee impovisation: wwwyoutubecom/watchv=cl5_dippnvg 12

16 SOME FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS In the line notes to the CD ecoding of Sitkovetsky s sting ochesta adaptation, the compose ohn Adams wites: This vesion of the Goldbeg Vaiations by Dmity Sitkovetsky is what Bach would have called a Beabeitung: an aangement o ewoking of a peexisting piece of music Such adaptations by one compose o pefome of anothe s wok o, fo that matte, of one s own, wee common in Bach s time Sometimes they wee the poduct of necessity, ie the equied instuments wee not at hand At othe times an aangement o ochestation was done out of a desie to extend the expessive possibilities of a piece of music by ecasting the playes on the stage Bach himself was a fequent and enthusiastic pactitione of this at as witnessed in his teatments of Vivaldi, Buxtehude and many othe composes whose wok he admied and loved (1) Adams s comment about Bach is definitely vey encouaging fo my puposes hee, but what would Bach think of such an ogan adaptation Duing the compositional pocess Bach would definitely have played the piece himself on hapsichod, but it is unlikely Bach eve played though the Goldbeg Vaiations on any of his ogans He would have needed Kalkanten to pump the bellows, and, in geneal, the ogan duing Bach s time was not used nealy as widely as it is today, when we have the convenience of electic blowes Thee ae many instances whee it is musically appopiate fo the pefome to play fom one vaiation ight on to the next one without pause, which on the ogan leaves the pefome little time to change the egistation Also, in m 15 and m 23 of Va 6, m 22 of Va 14, and m 15 of Va 18, the bass line goes too low to be played on ogan, and I needed to aange cetain bass notes an octave highe These notes could not have been played on any of Bach s ogans It is vey clea that Bach intended the Goldbeg Vaiations to be played on a two-manual hapsichod, and Williams has a chapte devoted 13

17 to discussing the aveage hapsichod available duing Bach s life, with pictues povided (Williams 9-13) Bach s ogans have been widely studied as well, and thee ae numeous books that povide details about the ogans along with suggested egistations, such as The Registation of S Bach s Ogan Woks: A Study of Geman Ogan- Building and Registation Pactices of the Late Baoque Ea, by Thomas Fedic Hamon, published 1978 Though Bach and his contempoaies may not have played the Goldbeg Vaiations on ogan, pefoming on ogan can give this monumental wok a newfound significance An impotant diffeence is the ability to tansfom sound at the oganist s discetion to expess the music The stop choices that I made fo my adaptation ae ust a few of an amazingly lage numbe of egistation possibilities on the many ogans available thoughout the wold The adaptation also takes the wok fom its moden ole as a vituosic showpiece fo the concet hall and bings it back to its oigins as a composition by a chuch musician Sections of the vaiations could be played as the pelude to a chuch sevice The opening aia and closing aia might be head as evoking payeful contemplation What ae some of the challenges of adapting the Goldbeg Vaiations fo ogan Hapsichods fom Bach s time had two manuals, in contast to the single-keyboad hapsichod fo which Domenico Scalatti composed his sonatas With two keyboads at his disposal, Bach makes use of them in a thooughly vituosic way A temendous amount of technical facility as well as the ability to contol tempo ae demanded of the hapsichodist Fo a numbe of the vaiations, the compose allows the pefome to decide on his own whethe to use a single manual o both manuals With two manuals the 14

18 hapsichodist is able to avoid the ovelapping hand issues that touble pianists, but he still needs to play cossed hands fo Vas 20 and 26, ust like the pianist Anothe element to conside is the visual aspect of having a passage played in an independent manne on two sepaate keyboads vesus combined togethe in a difficult way on a single one It could be an enlightening expeience, then, fo pianists and concetgoes, who ae used to witnessing the unwieldy sections pefomed on piano, to attend a pefomance on a two-manual hapsichod Bach s keyboad music came to be pefomed moe on piano and elatively less on hapsichod due to advancing technology As the moden piano impoved, the numbe of poficient pianists also inceased The moden piano is a much stonge instument than any that Bach came into contact with duing his lifetime It is capable of lage dynamic contasts, and fine nuances of expession and voicing Natually, this teasued wok fom the Baoque would be exploed by geneations of concet pianists Glenn Gould s ecoding fom 1955 not only populaized the piece with the geate public but also with pianists at all levels, so it took on a new identity as a conestone of Bach s geat keyboad woks We also have to conside the natue of the hapsichod in elation to the piano The hapsichod action is a plucking action, which is clealy diffeent fom the moden piano in that the pefome cannot contol how the mechanism of the instument poduces sound The key is pessed, and the sound is poduced Hapsichodists cannot contol dynamics, and it takes specialized taining fo them to aticulate the sound in diffeent ways It seems logical, then, that Baoque keyboad woks have limited pefomance makings, since these wee not necessay o elevant fo the pefome On the othe 15

19 hand, the natue of the hapsichod led to some inteesting esults in tems of composition Intensity is contolled by textue and length of notes Lots of moving o epeated notes, as well as both hands playing many notes at the same time, would poduce a fote effect on this instument Slow, lyical passages ae natually softe and moe contemplative This tadition has lent itself to the moden piano, in that music is often intepeted in the same geneal manne, with complicated textues being played loudly and single-voice homophonic passages being played lyically at a lowe volume Sometimes the pefome chooses to do what is counteintuitive, and this ceates a geat deal of inteest Fo example, in his ogan ecoding uegen Sonnentheil plays the choale-like opening of the final vaiation at a vey slow tempo The oveall feeling this ceates makes the Quodlibet sound foeign, yet beautiful in an entiely new way Bach the fathe is not so much at a happy gatheing with his whole family in font of him, but athe alone at his ogan in a one-on-one convesation with his Ceato This is an example of why adapting this piece fo ogan allows the music to take on a completely new life With the ogan s ability to sustain sound and change timbe immediately, a vaiation such as No 30 can be head in a totally new light It is impotant to emembe that my aangement of the Goldbeg Vaiations fo this one paticula ogan is ust one of an almost infinite numbe of possibilities available to the oganist, based on his o he pesonal pefeences My adaptation is peseved in the notated scoe, which is included in Appendix A Othe oganists who would like to make thei own adaptations of the wok could take my scoe into consideation Going back to the question of Beabeitung, thee is pobably little doubt that Bach was open to the pefomance of his music on diffeent instuments, not ust the oiginal 16

20 instument fo which he composed it I thought about this question oiginally while studying the Peludes and Fugues of the Well-Tempeed Clavie It is obvious that cetain of these Peludes and Fugues ae bette suited fo clavichod, fo hapsichod, and even a few fo the ogan, such as the fist pelude in Book II How would Bach eact if he could witness the pefomance of his keyboad music on the moden piano, as well as its lasting impact on the wold If Bach could witness the Goldbeg Vaiations being pefomed on ogan, would he view this as a big change If the stoy behind the piece is tue, the vaiations wee intended to help Count von Keyselingk fall asleep Appopiately, the piece has an intimate chaacte to it, fom beginning to end, that a pefomance on a lage ogan in a cathedal could negate Luckily, the ASU ogan is ust the ight size fo me to peseve some of the intimacy of the wok, and I make sue the sound is neve too poweful o ovebeaing Since the geat evival of Bach scholaship in the 1950s, analysts and pefomes have commented on Bach s attitude towad instumentation, with the geneal consensus being that Bach was quite open towads playing his woks on diffeent instuments Fo example, in the foewod to Noman Caell s book Bach the Boowe, the ealy music schola Basil Lam explains M Caell s motivation fo the study: Bach, with cetain exceptions, ewoked and adapted his own compositions and his seeming indiffeence to the medium employed can now be fully exploed (9) If the compose himself applied a vaiety of instumentation to his woks, moden pefomes can follow Bach and continue this pactice 17

21 TECHNIQUE OF ARRANGEMENT Befoe adapting the Goldbeg Vaiations fo ogan, I leaned and memoized the wok on piano I pefomed all of it, with most of the epeats, fo a piano ecital in which the Goldbeg Vaiations was the only wok on the pogam The pefomance was on Decembe 2, 2016, and lasted aound 1 hou and 20 minutes Duing the summe of 2016 I stated playing the vaiations on the ASU Fitts ogan I tied pulling cetain stops while playing though the piece, then pushing some stops back and tying diffeent combinations of them to hea which sounds I would pefe Thee wee cetain vaiations, such as Va 19 (only needing one stop, Gedackt 8, to poduce a soft and sweet sound), fo which the choice of stop was obvious fom the beginning, and thee wee othe ones, such as Va 27 (the final canon), whee thee wee many possibilities and I had to conside the chaacteistics of that vaiation, its ole o pupose in elation to the entie wok, and its position in the odeing of the vaiations Afte seveal months of expeimenting and editing, I aived at a final decision In my aangement, no egistation choice is epeated the timbe is diffeent fo each vaiation Sometimes thee is only a slight change in sound colo fom one vaiation to the next In seveal instances, howeve, neighboing vaiations ae dastically diffeent in tems of style and appopiate pefomance tempi This uxtaposition of vaiations was done on pupose by Bach the good-natued and ceative compose, though one could make the case that fom a geneal compositional standpoint these lage changes ae equied to keep the listene engaged in the pefomance To pevent the ochestation of the piece fom becoming too much lage than its oiginal vesion, using only one o two manuals of the hapsichod, I basically follow 18

22 what Bach indicates fo the use of manuals I do not use the ogan pedal ust because it is available, but athe spaingly, when its use eally helps to bing out the chaacte, as in the Aia and Va 13 In the late vaiations, especially Vas 27-29, the natual intensity of the music builds I heighten this sense of inceasing intensity by also having the ogan egistation gadually build up though these thee vaiations I aived at the final vesion of the egistation only afte significant help fom D Kimbely Mashall She listened to me play fom the back of the hall, and I also listened to he play fom the back of the hall, to ty to make good decisions about what would wok best fo the instument, taking into account the acoustic effects of this paticula hall Of couse, the sound is completely diffeent fom the pefome s pespective sitting on the bench, vesus an audience membe sitting in the middle of the hall Ultimately, thee can be no ight o wong answe fo the egistation, as it depends on each individual s atistic intepetation In my study of the ogan ecodings available, I head many diffeent egistations, and I leaned that many diffeent choices can poduce a satisfying oveall esult When I tansfeed the music to a two-manual ogan, a lot of it emained the same Though I was tempted to eaange which hand some of the passages ae to be played by, I was eminded to keep Bach s oiginal intentions Bach specifies which vaiations ae fo one and which ae fo two manuals It is useful to efe back to the fist edition, which can be seen hee: As is appaent thee, Bach uses the movable C clef, so it is good that we have the moden edited vesions As a pianist playing on ogan, I chose not to shift too much mateial to the pedal, but I do use it when I feel a paticula need fo the pedal stops, as in the Aia 19

23 (fo the bass line), Va 4, and Va 13 One of the mao issues is when to double a paticula passage Though doubling may seem a equiement fo playing on ogan, afte some consideation I decided that it would not be appopiate Anothe decision was needed fo choosing stops when a following voice entes in the canonic vaiations, and fo the piece in geneal I made an effot to change to a vaiety of new stops at the beginning of each vaiation This vaiety allows a full use of the ogan, and gives the audience a clea sense of the diffeent flavo of each vaiation Fo vaiations that ae simila in style, I use simila types of stops, such as flutes, eeds, o pincipals, allowing the listene also to feel a sense of etun and to have timbal efeence points Fo example, Vas 8 and 17 have the same tempo and should be simila, and so I changed the egistation only slightly Though both vaiations begin with the ight hand on Positive and the left on Geat, I use a eed in Va 8 vs a flute in Va 17 My pesonal choice of tempi is somewhee between the positions of Gould and Hewitt Like Gould, I believe that some of the vaiations should have simila tempi, to give the audience a hythmic efeence point (See the aticle by Matens) Howeve, these tempi should not be so analytically deived that they do not feel natual To allow this piece to exist in the full spectum of the imagination, we should choose tempi that convey easily the musical chaacte of each vaiation In such a way, they do not have to be mathematically popotioned to each othe, much as Angela Hewitt explains in an inteview (Distle 46) 20

24 A VARIATION-BY-VARIATION DISCUSSION Aia Bach did not specify how many manuals should be used fo the Aia and its etun at the end Afte significant expeimentation, I decided to give some of the bass notes to pedal In mm 1-24 both hands play on Geat, and then fom m 25 to the end, the ight hand plays on Positive while the left hand emains on Geat, to povide added colo to this final phase of the binay fom In ode to ceate an effective bass line on the ogan, I used the pedal Pincipal 16 fo long notes, melding into the left hand fo the moe figuative pats of the bass The slow moving bass line of the Aia G-F-E-D-B-C-D-G, G-F-E-A-F-G-A-D in the fist section, and D-B-C-B-G-A-B-E, C-B-A-D-G-C-D-G in the second section povides the musical content fom which Bach ceates the vaiations Each vaiation etains and vaies this bass line to some degee, while the melody of the Aia is not used diectly again In the Aia, using Hohlflöte 8 fo both the sopano and teno lines can poduce an effective blending with the bass line so that all the voices can be head clealy and in a gentle manne I was tying to pesent the sweet melodic line fom the Aia in the most beautiful way as an opening fo the piece Va 1 In contast to the Aia, this fist vaiation is vey active and full of unning 16 th -notes Fom a compositional standpoint, the lage shift in tempo and style fom the Aia to Va 1 heightens the listene s inteest The egistation choice has to match this change in style, but the diffeence in timbe comes mostly fom the music itself This vaiation is also a duet between bass and teble voices A bighte sound using a eed on Positive is 21

25 vey appopiate Playing detached is an essential technique to ceate shot and clea aticulations Va 2 The sopano and alto voices ae given a moe lyical line with an emphasis on 16 th -note scale figues The bass voice, on the othe hand, is slowe and moe disunct Many pefomes have intepeted this vaiation to be played legato in the ight hand (the duet) and detached in the left hand (the walking bass), and I definitely agee with this choice fo pefomance on the piano On the ogan one must aticulate slightly fo claity in the ight hand and not play too shot with the left hand, to ensue that the low pipes speak popely This vaiation mimics a tio sonata Using Pincipal stops such as Octav 8, 2 and Pincipal 16 will geneate a confident chaacte fo this vaiation Va 3 This is a vey special vaiation, whee I take atistic license to aange it fo two manuals on ogan even though Bach indicated 1 Clav Because I use Gedackt 8 on Positive and Hohlflöte 8 on Geat, the sound poduced by the two hands is vey simila yet slightly diffeent in quality Duing the fist section the ight hand is on Hauptwek and the left hand is on Untewek, and then they ae switched aound fo the second section This way the listene can hea moe clealy the canonic lines and the exchanging of voices Va 4 This is in 3/8 mete with a dance-like feeling I put the bass line on pedal with a eed to emphasize the downbeats fo most measues In the fist and second endings, all the 16 th - 22

26 notes ae aanged fo Geat instead of fo pedal, while in m 17, the D and the C ae played on both Geat and pedal The pupose of this choice is to allow fo good voicing and sound exchange while having the bass line in the pedal Thee is a significantly bighte and stonge sound to this vaiation Va 5 Bach indicated that eithe one o two manuals would be fine fo this vaiation On piano this vaiation famously involves cossed-hand playing, so it is obvious fo me to choose two manuals to make those passages easie to play on ogan I switched manuals fo the second pat of this vaiation because the 16 th -notes begin in the left hand instead of the ight hand The most challenging thing to pefom is the umping left hand between bass clef and teble clef Flute stops will wok well fo the unning 16 th -notes, being gentle and not too loud especially since the tempo is quite fast Va 6 This is the second canon, at the inteval of a second I think the aticulation fo this vaiation should be moe on the legato side I placed the spase 8 th -notes of the bass line on pedal (mm 14-15, m18, mm 24-25, mm 28-33, and m 36) to emphasize the lage intevals between these 8 th -notes, and also to povide some est fo the left hand while the oganist uses feet instead Va 7 This vaiation is maked al Tempo di Giga The mete is 6/8, and again thee is a dance-like feeling The left hand plays on Positive with Gedackt 8 and Blockflöte 4, 23

27 while the ight hand is on Geat with Viola da Gamba 8 only The Viola da Gamba stop eally bings out the chaacte of the dotted hythm, long-shot-long etc On the Fitts ogan the Viola da Gamba stop is a eed, not a sting stop, modeled on that of the Schnitge ogan in Alkmaa, Nethelands Also, the left-hand egistation on Positive ceates an inteesting tone quality using Gedackt and Flute We can clealy hea both voices at the same time They don t cove each othe, and instead we hea them in a duet Va 8 This has the same enegetic chaacte as Va 1 It is impotant that Bach indicates two manuals I found it vey difficult to play this vaiation on one keyboad on the piano, so I would definitely take advantage of having both manuals on the ogan Reed stops such as the Tompet 8 and Tichteegal 8 would wok well to poduce a confident sound and mach-like effect In addition, the tempo I chose fo this vaiation is about the same as the tempo fo Va 1 Va 9 As the only vaiation so fa employing the Temulant stop, my pupose is to have this stop suggest the sound of the human voice and singing Anothe accompanied canon, the melodic lines in the sopano and alto ae vey cantabile and smooth Using Octav 8 and adding some Temulant on top seems like an appopiate and expessive choice The esult is vey beautiful and magnificent 24

28 Va 10 This is the only Fugue in the entie wok The mete is alla beve and the subect is only fou measues long Fo the egistation I selected the Positive with Gedackt 8, Pincipal 4, and Tichteegal 8 With this combination the pefome is eally able to bing out a stong sense of the cut time hythms as well as emphasize the longe notes such as half and quate notes to give them stength and to keep up the intensity thoughout the vaiation With the puely pecussive action of the piano, once a note is played, the sound stats to decay and disappea Because this is one of the few vaiations with numeous longe notes, many ceated by ties, as well as half and quate notes, this vaiation is paticulaly well suited to pefomance on ogan Va 11 The descending 16 th -note tiplets of the opening make this vaiation vey distinctive Anothe technique that Bach uses to ceate inteest is at the beginning of the second pat, whee left-hand 16 th -note tiplets ascend along with the ight-hand descending tiplets Although neithe the hamonic pogession no the key has changed, the many diffeent gestues and combinations make each of the vaiations sound new and diffeent, an accomplishment that is especially appaent in this vaiation Bach s ability to compose so many vaiations while keeping to a athe estictive famewok is extemely impessive Fo this vaiation, I make sue to pefom all of the tiplets slightly detached, so that they have a delicate and spakling sound fo each note and fo the music as a whole 25

29 Va 12 This vaiation featues a canon by invesion, and I use the egistation of Positive with Gedackt 8, Pincipal 4, and Blockflöte 4 This staightfowad egistation of flutes and pincipals allows the music to speak fo itself Initially I was planning to give the bass line to the pedal, because I eally like its epeating thee-quate-note patten, and the two uppe voices to the two manuals Howeve, it is almost impossible to split the musical mateial into thee diffeent voices when Bach wote all of it fo one manual only Theefoe, I changed my mind and went back to one manual using Positive only Va 13 I decided to play this vaiation at a slowe tempo because of the vaieties of aticulation in mm 13 and 16 I was successful at sepaating the music into thee pats The bass line is on pedal, the teno line is on Geat, and the sopano line is on Positive This is also one of the vaiations fo which I add Temulant In many ways this vaiation is like an aia Thee is an elaboate melodic line with 32 nd -notes and onamentation accompanied by slow-moving bass and teno lines This natue equies the pefome to take time duing the melody, using ubato as well as a flexible tempo to shape the phases in a beautiful manne I use only flute stops on both of the manuals and Pincipal 16 fo the pedal pat The feeling is tanquil and exquisite Va 14 Rapid and intense, the chaacte of this vaiation is a complete change fom the pevious Va 13 Although the vaiations oveall ae often viewed, athe undesevedly, as being epetitive, Bach often ceates some huge and immediate contasts when going fom one 26

30 vaiation to the next Pehaps Bach wanted the listene to wake up, not fall asleep too soon Bach biogaphes such as Klaus Eidam fequently comment on Bach s humoous side (Eidam 41), and so in some of these instances the image of Bach as a woldly, oking man comes to the foefont, vesus his identity as a pious compose and music diecto in numeous eligious settings It is not always appopiate fo the keyboadist to play the fast passages of the Goldbeg Vaiations in the utmost seious and intense manne, but to have fun The pefome is even moe successful if she can shae with he audience that she is indeed having fun, and not stuggling ust to play the vaiation accuately Fo Va 14, I don t change the manual fo the second pat and ust keep it the same, with ight hand on Positive and left hand on Geat Having the two manuals is convenient because it solves the poblem of ovelapping and cossing hands, which occu thoughout this vaiation on piano Thee is also the issue that duing the cossing of hands, sometimes the distance between the two hands becomes uncomfotably fa, making long ams and finges as well as a flexible uppe body a equiement fo even attempting to play this vaiation On ogan thee ae many ways aound this poblem, and so the attention is bought back to the inteesting chaacteistics of the music itself, athe than the feats of stength and flexibility that this vaiation has become known fo though the many yeas of famous pianists pefoming it Va 15 Andante is the tempo making, so this is anothe one of the slow vaiations It begins with a descending two-note slu figue in the alto pat and then an ascending sopano line comes in on the next measue This vaiation is in G mino, not G mao It is the fist of 27

31 the thee vaiations in the whole set that ae in G mino I add Temulant to enhance the contast between this vaiation and the peceding Va 14 and subsequent Va 16 Because the intevals in this vaiation ae mostly small and include descending half-step pattens, a soft dynamic is appopiate Va 16 We ae now at the middle of the entie set, and accodingly, this vaiation is in the style of a Fench Ovetue Often, diectly in the middle of Bach s keyboad woks thee is an Ovetue that is a landmak fo the stuctue of the wok as a whole The Fench Ovetue hee begins with many 32 nd -notes in a unning fashion along with a dotted hythm The Ovetue begins with the taditional slow dotted hythm alla beve Then the second pat of the binay fom is in a faste tempo, with a mete of 3/8 Howeve, this is not a conventional Fench Ovetue that etuns to the slow tempo, though the time signatue does come back on the last chod The vaiation ust finishes at the end of the second pat Afte consulting with D Kimbely Mashall, I use the Fench Ovetue egistation called Gands eux, which featues the eed and conet timbes of the ogan, as documented in Fench egistation souces fom the late 17 th and 18 th centuies Eveything is put on Geat fo the fist pat, and then Positive fo the 3/8 section except the stop of Gemshon 2 On piano, I decided to play all the dotted hythms as if thee wee a double dot, and fo ogan I do the same Va 17 The tempo and hythm of this vaiation ae vey simila to that of Vas 1 and 8 Thee ae lots of unning 16 th notes fo both hands To play these unning notes at low volume 28

32 poduces a vey pleasing effect, and so fo the egistation I use Gedackt 8 and Blockflöte 4 on Positive and Hohlflöte 8 and Spitzflöte 4 on Geat Played on two manuals fo the whole time, the two voices ae clealy head and delicate Detached aticulation seems appopiate to this vaiation Va 18 This is quite a cheeful vaiation with a vey sweet sound The canon poceeds in cut time with lots of tied notes, including half notes tied togethe acoss the ba line All the notes can be played on one manual I play it in a modeate tempo I play all of the eighth and quate notes detached to highlight the claity of the sound in this vaiation Although I play them shot, I am caeful not to play too shot This vaiation shows some moe of Bach s humo Va 19 I would say that Vas 18 and 19 ae pefect to play next to each othe Va 19 is anothe dance in 3/8 mete The touch fo this one is slightly moe detached on ogan than on piano I like it vey soft so I only use Gedackt 8 on Positive to ceate a peaceful mood and distinguish it fom the othe vaiations Va 20 In contast to the pevious two vaiations, this one is toccata-like and vituosic Oganists would play this vaiation on two manuals and in a vey fast tempo The most challenging thing on the piano is that in quite a few instances the left hand and the ight hand will both have to play the same key while altenating between the hands It does not even 29

33 matte whethe the hands ae cossed o not, the same issue occus These passages ae easie when using two manuals, but a pianist must adapt to playing with one hand in a highe position than the othe Va 21 Fo this, the second vaiation in G mino, I initially wanted to couple both Positive and Geat on Geat (I+II on G) This coupling would make it too poweful in elation to the late vaiations, howeve, so I evised the egistation to ust Geat I still wanted the sound to be vey ich, dak, and deep, so I ended up using Pincipal 16, Octav 8,4, Tompet 8 and Temulant This egistation sounds stong enough fom the back of the ogan hall o chuch Va 22 This vaiation is vey simila in many aspects to Va 18 To be played on one manual, it is in iceca style, alla beve, in fou voices Thee ae plenty of long notes such as whole, half, and tied notes The openings of both vaiations involve chains of suspensions duing the initial step descent in the bass line The ange of Va 22 is lowe than that of Va 18, and I used completely diffeent egistations in the two vaiations Howeve, I ty to play both Va 18 and 22 in the same tempo, to futhe emphasize fo the listene the connection between them Va 23 The tempo I chose fo this vaiation is almost the same as fo Vas 1, 8, 17, and 20 Again, the mete is 3/4 and the hythm is constantly in 16 th - and 32 nd -notes The vaiation 30

34 begins with paallel descending 16 th -note scales and then moves into toccata style with apid exchanges between the hands I pefe a loude sound on the ogan fo this one, so I use stops such as Schaff, Gemshon, Tichteegal, Mixtue and Viola da Gamba These ae some of the stong stops on the ASU Fitts ogan Va 24 We ae pesented with yet anothe canon, and this one is set in 9/8 mete Afte a loud and foceful vaiation, I would like to uxtapose a softe and sweete egistation fo this Blockflöte 4 on Positive and Hohlflöte 4 on Geat The fist section is played on Positive and the second is played on Geat to have slightly diffeent tonal colos Because of the swinging hythms so I suggest playing this vaiation at a modeate tempo Va 25 This is the final vaiation in G mino and is a paticulaly lengthy and significant vaiation Maked Adagio, it takes so much time to play this one though that it compaes to all the five vaiations that followed It evokes the aia, simila to Va 13, but with much chomaticism, a meandeing teble line, and a vaiety of colo changes The mood is vey pivate and contemplative One defining featue of this vaiation is the contou of a lage upwad leap followed by a step descent, which appeas in mm 1 and 2 (D to B- flat, C to A-flat) and mm 5 and 6 (D to D, E-flat to E-flat) These and othe lage leaps balanced by steps ceate a spawling melodic line that is vey soowful The moe one plays this vaiation, the moe one wants to keep playing The effect is almost like stopping time, of taking a pause befoe etuning to the things of this wold On ogan and in a eligious setting, the effect would be even moe ponounced than when pefomed on 31

35 piano in a concet hall Also, it is impotant to note that Bach indicates the tempo fo this vaiation, Adagio Subsequent piano vaiation sets by Mozat and Beethoven continue this tadition of having a slow long vaiation befoe the fast finish Conside the Twelve Vaiations in C Mao, K 265, in which Mozat indicates tempo makings only fo Vas 11 and 12, which ae Adagio and Allego, espectively In the Diabelli Vaiations, Op 120, Beethoven gives the indication Lago, molto espessivo fo Va 31, followed by a poweful tiple fugue at fast tempo in Va 32, eaching the gand climax of the piece Inteestingly, Va 33, the final vaiation, is maked Tempo di Menuetto modeato, fo a gentle denouement Donald Tovey discusses the diect link between the Diabelli Vaiations and Bach s vaiations: It is pofoundly chaacteistic of the way in which (as Diabelli himself seems patly to have gasped) this wok develops and enlages the geat aesthetic pinciples of balance and climax embodied in the Goldbeg Vaiations, that it ends quietly The feedom necessay fo an odinay climax on moden lines was secued aleady in the geat fugue, placed, as it was, in a foeign key; and now Beethoven, like Bach, ounds off the wok by a peaceful etun home a home that seems fa emoved fom these stomy expeiences though which alone such etheeal calm can be attained (Tovey 133) Va 26 Afte Va 25 s espite, we ae now pesented with the oiginal spiit of the piece in full foce This vaiation is vey vituosic and allows the pefome to show off facility with apid lines In the ight hand we have 18/16 while in the left hand it is 3/4 The vaiation begins with unning sextuplets in the teble The apid line moves fom hand to hand in diffeent places thoughout The sextuplets and the slowe hythm in the othe hand ae often in thee-against-two elationship The dotted hythm can be made to fit with the 32