Re: Goldbergs -- just a pop song?

[brian scott gaona <bgaona@students.uiuc.edu>]

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
>