Thus the pedal sounds above the part given to the second manual and is often the topmost part. See Novello's ed., bk. xvi. 4.
Published circ. 1742; the so-called “Goldberg Variations.” They are in P. bk. 209.
Variation No. 10 is a Fughetta in four parts.
Ten of the Variations are marked “a 2 Clav.,” that is, for two keyboards or manuals: Nos. 8, 11, 13, 14, 17, 20, 23, 25, 26, 28. Nos. 5, 7, 29 are marked “a 1 ovvero 2 Clav.”
The movement is constructed upon two merry folk-songs, Kraut and Rüben haben mich vertrieben, and Ich bin so lang nicht bei dir gewirt.
See supra, p. 101.
In fact Bach wrote the early Aria variata alla maniera Italiana (Peters bk. 215, p. 12) for the Clavier. For the Organ he wrote four sets of Variations upon as many Choral melodies (Novello bk. xix.). But all except the Goldberg Variations are youthful works, and in his maturity Bach clearly had no liking for the form. The theme of the Goldberg Variations, moreover, is itself a youthful idea; at least it dates back to as early as 1725, and is found in A. M. Bach's Notenbuch (No. 26, Aria in G major).
There is no reference to these corrigenda in the B. G. edition.
The work has been referred to already in connection with Bach's membership of Mizler's Society (supra, p. 112). It was composed presumably circ. 1746 and in point of technical skill is the most brilliant of Bach's instrumental works. Forkel states that it was engraved after June 1747, when Bach joined Mizler's Society. Spitta (iii. 295) is of opinion that it was already engraved by then. It is in bk. xix. of Novello's edition.
Supra, p. 25.