BRITISH MUSIC SOCIETY OF NORTHERN IRELAND 1956 1957 FOURTH RECITAL under the auspices of THE QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY OF BELFAST ROSALYN TURECK, Pianoforte THE SIR WILLIAM WHITLA HALL QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY BELFAST FRIDAY, JANUARY 18th 1957

ARIA WITH THIRTY VARIATIONS Johann Sebastian Bach ("Goldberg" Variations) (1685-1750) Aria Var. 1 a 1 Clavier Var. 2 a 1 Clavier Var. 3 a 1 Clavier Canone all' Unisono Var. 4 a 1 Clavier Var. 5 a 1 Ovvero 2 Clavier Var. 6 a 1 Clavier Canone alla Seconda Var. 7 a 1 Ovvero 2 Clavier Var. 8 a 2 Clavier Var. 9 a 1 Clavier Canone alla Terza Var. 10 a 1 Clavier Fughetta Var. 11 a 2 Clavier Var. 12 a 1 Clavier Canone alla Quarta Var. 13 a 2 Clavier Var. 14 a 2 Clavier Var. 15 a 1 Var. 16 a 1 Var. 17 a 2 Clavier Canone alla Quinta Clavier Overture and Fughetta Clavier Var. 18 a 1 Var. 19 a 1 Clavier Var. 20 a 2 Clavier Var. 21 a 1 Clavier Canone alla Settima Var. 22 a 1 Clavier Var. 23 a 2 Clavier Var. 24 a 1 Clavier Canone all' Ottava Var. 25 a 2 Clavier Var. 26 a 2 Clavier Var. 27 a 1 Clavier Canone alla Nona Var. 28 a 2 Clavier Var. 29 a 1 Ovvero 2 Clavier *Var. 30 a 1 Clavier Quodlibet Aria da Capo Clavier Canone alla Sesta *This variation in the form of a Quodlibet (musical joke) consists of two folk songs, "I have not been with you for so long" and "Cabbages and turnips have driven me away," the melodies of which are developed contrapuntally and follow the harmony of the aria, as do all the variations.

Bach's "Aria and 30 Variations" is a work of his mature years, and forms book 4 of his great collection, the Clavierübung. The only other formal setting of keyboard variations is the little- known "Aria and 10 Variations in the Italian Style," a charming and delicate work written in his earlier years. The popular name of "Goldberg Variations" has attached itself to the later set because of the circumstances which led Bach to write them. As the story goes according to Forkel, Bach's first biographer, Bach was commissioned by Count von Kayserling, Russian Ambassador to the Count at Dresden and a sufferer from insomnia, to write some pieces" of a smooth and lively character" in order to relieve the tedium of his sleepless nights. Johann Theophilus (Gottlieb) Goldberg was harpsichordist to the Count and a pupil of Bach. He was the one who played the finished work to the Count, and his name has attached itself to the Variations. The Aria appears in the Anna Magdalena Notebook as a Sarabande. Spitta claims that this Sarabande was written long before the Variations were conceived. The Variations are built on the bass line and harmony of the aria; this method frees Bach's inventiveness, for he has here a strong, simple harmonic base which upholds endless possibilities of structure. Thus, the variations en- compass canons, fughettas, free imitation, ornamental and figurative styles. In our full present knowledge of the develop- ments in keyboard style through the last two centuries, it is amazing to see how, for sheer keyboard style, Bach exhausts the full gamut of keyboard figurations in this work. Outside of octave figurations, there is no keyboard device-which so many consider as having developed with the enlargement of possibilities through the history of piano ting which does not appear in these Variations. The use of consecutive double thirds and double sixths as in Variation 23, trill technique as in Variation 28, for the right hand, left hand, and both hands together, reminiscent of a Czerny Etude, but of a musical character so far above anything that Czerny ever wrote and much more demanding technically-also resembling the full

hgurations of Beethoven's last piano sonatas and sometimes even of Liszt-the chordal figuration in Variation 29, scale and arpeggio passages: all appear here. Besides, the performing demands for melodic and polyphonic delineation are unequalled. For a long time the Goldberg Variations have been regarded as unplayable on the piano; musically for its many polyphonic demands, and physically because the inter-crossing of hands, diffi- cult though possible on a two-manual harpsichord, was regarded as impossible on one keyboard. Busoni, therefore, made an edition of this work. His own words explain his purposes best: "In order to rescue this remarkable work for the concert hall... it is necessary, either by shortening it or paraphrasing it, to render it more suitable both for the receptive powers of the hearer, and for the possibilities of the performer. This latter has been en- deavoured in the text set forth in this edition. In pursuance of the first-mentioned aim, I would suggest, to begin with, a disregard of the repetition marks. Further I considered it expedient, for public performance, to suppress entirely some of the Variations." Busoni therefore omitted, for concert performance, nine of the Variations, seven of which were canons, thereby destroying the entire framework of the form and the meaning of the canons. He sug- gested many technical facilitations, additions and amplifications. Most of these changes appear separately, along with the original Bach version, to Busoni's credit. However, it is unfortunate that occasionally he allows them to be incorporated in the text of the score with no indication that they are Busoni and not Bach. Busoni's point of view, which carries endless implications and complications, is one which has been widely held and disseminated for generations. It represents one of the backgrounds of dis- tortion, well-meaning as it was, against which musicians have been struggling towards a clearer view of Bach, often ending up in an opposite reaction as extreme in its way as Busoni's. I play the Goldberg Variations exactly as they appear in the original and

have not found it necessary to make any alterations or facilitations in order to meet its technical or musical demands. Structurally the Variations are built on a plan of nine canons. The first canon in the unison, is followed by canons written on a progressively wider interval ending with the canon on the ninth. Each canon is flanked by two free variations throughout. Thus canon 1 on the unison is Variation 3 and canon 9 on the ninth is Variation 27. Variation 30 is a quodlibet; the explanation of this form appears below the listing of the variations in the programme. The humorous and good-natured style of the last Variation of this colossal work reminds one of the humour of the last fugue in B minor in book 2 of the Well-Tempered Clavier, finishing off, as it does, a great and varied collection of elaborately conceived works. This parallel illuminates an interesting facet of Bach's personality, which expresses itself in a sense of style which consciously or unconsciously chooses geniality and good humour as the last idea in the unfolding of a form which has been worked out in innumerable ways. The actual ending of the Goldberg Variations is given to the return of the aria. This return to the beginning, completing the life cycle, carries with it a fundamental sense of renewal and yet reveals a new meaning in the beginning which is two-fold-the potentialities of the beginning and an infinitely greater understanding of its meaning as the result of having undergone the full experience of these potentialities. This return to the beginning is one of the most sublime moments in music. -ROSALYN TURECK (Copyright).

Next Concerts : FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1st at 7.45 p.m. ANTONIO JANIGRO, Cello ERNEST LUSH, Pianoforte ADAGIO E ALLEGRO VARIATIONS ON A THEME OF MOZART IN E FLAT MAJOR SUITE NO. 3 IN D MAJOR (Unaccompanied) INTERVAL SONATA SONATA IN E MINOR, Op. 38 at 3.0 p.m. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2nd Conductor: ANTONIO JANIGRO ZAGREB SOLOISTS ENSEMBLE Boccherini SONATA NO. 3 FOR STRINGS IN C MAJOR Beethoven Bach INTERVAL CELLO CONCERTO IN B FLAT (Soloist, Antonio Janigro) Boccherini Rossini FUNERAL MUSIC (Soloist, Stefano Passaggio) SIMPLE SYMPHONY SCHERZO SARABANDE, GIGUE, BADINERIE Debussy Brahms Hindemith Britten Lhotka Corelli