[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: Goldbergs -- just a pop song?
Greetings fellow f-minors,
As odd a blurb as that might sound, I have understood that to be
true for several years. I had first heard it in several piano literature
courses as an undergrad and later in a graduate course dedicated
strictly to Bach. The only instance that I know of specifically is the
last variation, titled "Quodlibet." This small genre is according to
Grove's dictionary a short piece combining several popular tunes either in
succession or simultaneously, (of course, Bach brilliantly superimposes
the themes.)
As for the names of the tunes in the last variation, I don't
remember, exactly. I beleive one is a love song of sorts, and another
has to do with vegatables as a topic - (these two are rough memories, so
better re-check them! ;)
While it may seem anticlimactic of Bach to place a genre usually
reserved for technical display or just humor at the end of one of western
music's monuments, one should be aware of two things that put this
qoudlibet in a different light:
1) Bach had not only the supreme compositional thechnique of his
era, but also a thorough knowledge of music before his time, and
2) in the Rennaissance, the notion of juxtaposing pre-existing
music, (as in the quodlibet,) was regarded as highest mastery of music.
Check out Groves for more info, you might get a different lead as to
finding out exactly what the the tunes are, and what Bach was really
thinking when he concluded the "'bergs" with this. :)
-Brian
On Mon, 20 Sep 1999, Tim Conway wrote:
> Hello miners,
>
> Here in Australia the ABC (our version of the BBC) have put out a 2-CD
> set called Wagner's Rinse Cycle (465 260-2), a pot pourri of bits and
> pieces in a humourous vein.
>
> The 12th piece on CD One is George Malcolm playing 'Bach before the
> mast', Malcolm's version of the Sailor's Hornpipe as it might have been
> written by JSB. The blurb for the piece includes the following:
>
> "...Bach himself was not averse to including the odd pop song in his
> works: the conclusion of his gigantic and profound 'Goldberg' Variations,
> in fact, has an ironic little melange of contemporary popular songs...".
>
> Is this assertion true, and if so what are the songs? Anyone know the
> answer? Best regards,
>
>
> Tim Conway
> Broome, WA, Oz
>