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Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Aria

by Johann Sebastian Bach

PianoOrganGuitarharpsichordCelloFluteOboeviolinBassoonVocalDouble BassHornClarinetTromboneTimpaniTrumpetTubaKeyboardRecorderBanjoEuphoniumSaxophoneVoice TenorViola ChoirBaroqueFreeGuitar tabsChristmasScores20th CenturyChurchModern

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106 retailer listings for this; we have no current price for any of them. 49 archives offer it free.

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Referenced at

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About this piece

Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Aria is a work by Johann Sebastian Bach. Editions in our index are scored for piano, organ, guitar and harpsichord. We track 106 editions for sale, from Encore Music, Active Musician, Great Scores and Music44. We do not hold a current price for any of them, so check the retailer before you buy. 49 public-domain archives publish it free of charge, including 8notes, Sheet Music Archive and Cantorion.

The Aria, and the story about the insomniac count

The Aria opens and closes the Goldberg Variations, published in 1741 as the fourth part of Bach's Clavier-Übung. It is a sarabande in G major, and the thirty variations that follow are built not on its melody but on its bass line — which is why the Aria can return unchanged at the end and sound completely different.

The Aria was not new in 1741. It appears in the 1725 Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, some sixteen years earlier.

The familiar story — that Count Kaiserling commissioned the work to be played by his harpsichordist Johann Gottlieb Goldberg during sleepless nights — comes from Johann Nikolaus Forkel's 1802 biography, written more than fifty years after Bach's death. No contemporary source supports it, the published edition carries no dedication, and Goldberg would have been about fourteen. It is worth knowing as the reason for the nickname rather than as history.

On the page: the Aria is frequently sold and taught on its own, and at that length it is approachable. The ornaments are written out in Bach's own text and are not optional decoration — they are the melody.

Published in

This piece appears in 90 published collections.

Common questions

Is Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Aria available for free?
Yes. 49 archives in our index publish it at no cost, typically as a public-domain scan or engraving. Free editions vary in quality and edition; a paid edition may be easier to read or better fingered.
What instruments is Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Aria arranged for?
The editions we track are scored for piano, organ, guitar, harpsichord, cello, flute, horn, clarinet, trumpet, tuba, recorder, saxophone and voice tenor.

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