Description
Published around 1741, this late masterpiece by Bach opens with an aria followed by thirty variations, including a series of canons at progressively wider intervals every third variation. After a lively quodlibet near the end, the opening aria returns to close the cycle, pushing the variation genre to its structural limits. Running well over eighty minutes, it is a monumental test of a performer's stamina, memory, and musical endurance.
Works written in theme-and-variations form, where a single melody is transformed in many different ways.
About the Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Johann Sebastian Bach was the towering figure of German Baroque music, serving for decades as Cantor of St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. Renowned for his mastery of counterpoint, he laid the foundations of keyboard music with works such as The Well-Tempered Clavier and the Inventions. This site includes 229 of his pieces, including numerous chorale settings and arias.
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