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Site 1996 Timothy A. Smith

Author BACH Courses

Fourteen Canons on the First Eight Notesof the Goldberg Ground (BWV 1087)

This page is now available as interactive hypermediaat bach.nau.edu/BWV988(Shockwave Player required)or at bach.nau.edu/Pubs/facsimile.html(Flash required)

Suggested Reading: Christoph Wolff. "The Handexemplar of the Goldberg Variations"Bach: Essays on His Life and Music (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1991) pp.162-177.

Historical Background and Significance

Discovery of BWV 1087In 1974 a published copy of the Goldberg Variations,first owned by Bach himself, wasdiscovered in private possession in France. Accompanying the manuscript, in Bach'shand, there was attached a single page with fourteen canons on the first eight notes ofthe Goldberg ground. The discovery of the hitherto unknown manuscript wasimmediately hailed as the most important addition of a Bach source in recent decades.Of the fourteen canons, only numbers 11 and 13 had been known before 1974.

Significance of the Cycle

The fourteen canons are important for four reasons. Not only are they delightful to hear,but they represent a germinal stage of the mature variations that is highly instructive asto compositional processes that Bach may have used. Thirdly, the canon cycle bridgesthe gap between the canons of the Goldberg and the more esoteric canons of the

Musical Offeringof 1747. Finally, the enigmatic notations of the fourteen canonsrepresent Bach's affinity for musical riddles and cryptographic symbols.

Signature Number?It is a coincidence, perhaps, that there are fourteen canons in the Goldberg addendum.But to those who are cognizant of Bach's fascination with the number 14 as the sum of

the ordinal values of the letters of his name (B+A+C+H), the number of canons in this

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cycle is more than coincidental. Bach's last major work,Art of the Fugue containsfourteen Contrapuncti,the last of which is the unfinished quadruple fugue in which thethird subject is the BACH motive. If the number of canons can be understood torepresent the composer's signature number, we might infer that Bach wished for thecycle of canons to represent, just as theArt of the Fuguerepresents, the last word on thesubject.

Analysis of Each CanonThe first four canons of the cycle use the Goldberg ground as leader. While not themost interesting things to hear, from a theoretical perspective these canons arenecessary inasmuch as Bach demonstrates in them the inherent contrapuntalpossibilities of his soggetto,or "subject," by combining it with itself in four ways:

Canon 1- soggettowith its retrograde

Canon 2- inverted soggettowith its retrograde

Canon 3- soggettowith its inversion

Canon 4- inverted soggettowith its inversion

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Canon 5- Canon Duplex a 4From the fifth canon onward, the Goldberg ground is employed either by itself orcanonically as ostinato beneath other canonic voices. Now that the composer hasestablished the contrapuntal viability of his soggetto,he is ready to add morecomplex counterpoint above it. In canon 5 Bach repeats the soggettoas it wasstated canonically in 3, above which he adds a second canon in contrary motion.

Canon 6- Canon simplex uber besagtes Fundament a 3In this "mirror canon," the intervals of the follower are exactly the same as thoseof the leader, but moving in the opposite direction.

Canon 7-Idem a 3Like the sixth canon, No. 7 is in contrary motion above a ground bass.

Canon 8- Canon simplex a 3 il soggetto in Alto

In the eighth canon, the ground is put into the middle voice (il soggetto in Alto).Bach applies accidentals to make the follower the mirror image of its leader. This

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makes the canon sounds more like it is in d-minor than the G-major to which wehave become accustomed.

Canon 9- Canon in unisono post semifusam a 3Bach titled this one "Canon in unison followed at the sixteenth," drawingattention to the unusually short time interval between leader and follower.

Canon 10-Alio modo per syncopationes et per ligaturas a 2Bach stipulates that this counterpoint above the ground is to be a piece for twovoices. Thus it was not intended to be a canon (else the follower would haveadded an unspecified third voice). Instead Bach inverts both parts and has themplayed as a second counterpoint which he call theEvolutio. This technique is theprecursor to two of the fugues inDie Kunstwhich are likewise contrived so thatthey can be played with intervals moving in the opposite direction.

Canon 11- Canon duplex ubers Fundament a 5Suggested Reading: That Crown of Thornsby Tim Smith

When the Goldberg canon cyclewas discovered in 1974, only twoof its fourteen canons had beenknown before that date; numbereleven was one of them. On

October 15, 1747, Bach scribbledthis canon (right) on the flyleaf of a

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was actually written in conjunction with the Goldberg Variations.

Canon 14- Canon a 4 per Augmentationem et DiminutionemThe last canon is for four voices in rhythmic proportions (mensuration canon).Bach labeled it "canon for 4 voices in augmentation and diminution," but for theGoldberg ground to appear the canon must also move in contrary motion.

Notes

It is likely that the "lord possessor" of the inscription has a double meaning. Itobviously refers to the owner of the book (Fulda), but may also refer to the LordGod as well.

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