Piano Literature : Sonatas and Variations

Lecture III: The German Baroque Masters

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

The "Goldberg" Variations (published in Nuremburg,1742)
Part IV of the Klavierubung BWV 988
Aria, 30 Variations and Reprise
10 x 3 Variations (each 3 = 2 Variations + Canon)
Canons at the Unision through the Ninth: Fughetta (Var. 10),
Inversion Canons (Var. 12&15), French Overture (Var. 16),
Quodlibet (Var. 30)

BWV 988 Title: Goldberg Variations Category: Clavier Works Subcategory: Variations, Capriccios, and Miscellaneous Movements: Aria 1. Variation 1 - for 1 keyboard 2. Variation 2 - for 1 keyboard 3. Variation 3 - canone all'unisono for 1 keyboard 4. Variation 4 - for 1 keyboard 5. Variation 5 - for 1 or 2 keyboards 6. Variation 6 - canone alla seconda for 1 keyboard 7. Variation 7 - for 1 or 2 keyboards 8. Variation 8 - for 2 keyboards 9. Variation 9 - canone alla terza for 1 keyboard 10. Variation 10 - fughetta for 1 keyboard 11. Variation 11 - for 2 keyboards 12. Variation 12 - canone alla quarta 13. Variation 13 - for 2 keyboards 14. Variation 14 - for 2 keyboards 15. Variation 15 - canone alla quinta in moto contrario for 1 keyboard. Andante (G minor) 16. Variation 16 - ouverture for 1 keyboard 17. Variation 17 - for 2 keyboards 18. Variation 18 - canone alla sesta for 1 keyboard 19. Variation 19 - for 1 keyboard 20. Variation 20 - for 2 keyboards 21. Variation 21 - canone alla settima (G minor) 22. Variation 22 - alla breve for 1 keyboard 23. Variation 23 - for 2 keyboards 24. Variation 24 - canone all'ottava for 1 keyboard 25. Variation 25 - for 2 keyboards(G minor) 26. Variation 26 - for 2 keyboards 27. Variation 27 - canone alla nona 28. Variation 28 - for 2 keyboards 29. Variation 29 - for 1 or 2 keyboards 30. Variation 30 - quodlibet for 1 keyboard Instrumentation: harpsichord Year: 1741 Comment: Clavierübung Book IV Aria comes from the Anna Magdalena Bach Notebook, No. 26.

Editions of the "Goldberg" Variations

Bach-Geselleschaft/Dover reprint (1853-1863)
Ferruccio Busoni/Breitkopf (1915) - transcription and restnicturi
Ralph Kirkpatrick/Schirmer (1938) - urtext esthetic

Die Kunst der Fuge BWV 1080 (published 1751)

BWV 1080 Title: Art of Fugue (Die Kunst der Fuge) Category: Canons and Late Contrapuntal Works Movements: 1. Contrapunctus # 1, for keyboard 2. Contrapunctus # 2, for keyboard 3. Contrapunctus # 3, for keyboard 4. Contrapunctus # 4, for keyboard 5. Contrapunctus # 5, for keyboard avec pédalier 6. Contrapunctus # 6, a 4 in stile francese, for keyboard with pedals 7. Contrapunctus # 7, a 4 per augmentationem et diminutionem, for keyboard with pedals 8. Contrapunctus # 8, a 3, for keyboard 9. Contrapunctus # 9, a 4 alla duodecima, for keyboard 10. Contrapunctus # 10, a 4 alla decima, for keyboard 10a. Contrapunctus # 10a, a 4, for keyboard 11. Contrapunctus # 11, for keyboard 12a. Contrapunctus # 12a, a 4 (rectus), for 2 keyboards 12b. Contrapunctus # 12b, a 4 (inversus), for 2 keyboards 13a. Contrapunctus # 13a, a 3 (rectus), for 2 keyboards or organ 13b. Contrapunctus # 13b, a 3 (inversus), for 2 keyboards or organ 14. Canon per augmentationem in contrary modion, for keyboard 15. Canon alla ottava, for keyboard 16. Canon alla decima (contrapuncto alla terza) 17. Canon alla duodecima (contrapuncto alla quinta) 18a. Fuga, for 2 keyboards 18b. Ali modo Fuga, for 2 keyboards 19. Fuga a 3 soggetti, for keyboard Instrumentation: organ harpsichord orchestra Year: 1742

Four Canons: at the Octave, Third and Fifth, and by Inversion

Editions of Die Kunst der Fuge
Bach-Geselleschaft/Dover reprint ( 1878)
Ferruccio Busoni: Fantasia Contrappuntistica (1910)
Donald Francis Tovey/Oxford (1931) - published with A Companion
to Die Kunst der Fuge and completion of Final Fugue
Davitt Moroney/Henle (1989) - reordering

Other Sonata and Variation Works of Bach
Sonata in D major BWV 963
Sonata in A minor BWV 967
Two Sonatas after Reinken BWV 965-966
Aria with Ten Variations BWV 989

Passacaglia Transcriptions
Brahms: Chaconne for left hand (from Violin Partita BWV 1004)
Busoni: Chaconne
Liszt: Variations on "Weinen, klagen" (from Cantata BWV 12)

Dietrich Boxtehude (1637-1707)

Six Variation Sets (ca. 1680), including La Capricciosa (one of the themes of Bach's Quodlibet)

Georg Friedrich Handel (l685-1750)

Eight Great Suites (1720)

Suite No.1 Book 2 Air & Variations
Suite No. 5 in E major: Air & 5 Variations "The Harmonious Blacksmith"
Suite No. 7 in G minor: Passacaglia with 15 Variations

Sarabande with Variations from the Harpsichord Suite in D minor

Suite in D minor

 

 

 

Listening List III : Haydn's Sonatas and Variations

Sonata in E minor Hob. XVI :34 I.Presto II.Adagio III.Molto vivace

Sonata in D major Hob. XVI: 37

Sonata in A-flat major Hob. XVI.46

Sonata in E-flat major Hob. XVI:49

Sonata in C major Hob. XVI: 50

Sonata in Eflat major Hob. XVI: 52 I.Allegro moderato II.Adagio III.Presto

Variations in F minor Hob. XVII.6 "Un piccolo Divertimento"

Transition to the Classical Style.