One aria, thirty transformations

Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 · Johann Sebastian Bach

In the Goldberg Variations, Bach does not transform a melody over and over again.

In fact, the aria we hear at the beginning almost disappears.

What remains, hidden beneath each new form, is a harmonic structure. A bass line that supports thirty different ways of making music.

From this foundation, Bach builds a constantly changing world: dances, intricate handwork, dizzying movements, moments of intimacy and dialogues between voices.

Every third variation is a canon. The voices imitate one another, chase each other and meet at increasingly complex intervals.

The music seems to move further and further away from its starting point.

But the foundation remains.

And when, after the entire journey, the opening aria returns, we no longer hear it in quite the same way.

It has not changed.

We have.