bach1.jpg (1675 ????)

你失眠嗎?

請聽郭德堡變奏曲

你失眠嗎?音樂不僅可以醫病還可以陶冶身心,就讓我充當一下 Dr. Lee 吧!話說此曲的真實來源,你一定會覺得時代不同囉!巴哈為什麼尊為音樂之父,其實是有一段不為人知的心酸血淚,為什麼他可以寫出那麼多首教會音樂及一堆的 Cantata 。音樂之父也是要賺錢養一堆兒子的爸爸呀!於是每個禮拜就得交出一首管弦樂加四部合聲的 Cantata(矽谷的電腦工程師也別抱怨老闆逼你一個月內完成一個 Project 了)話說回來,此曲可算是打工賺來的“黑錢”啦!哈!哈!巴哈可能要托夢掐死我亂扯他後腿了!

當時一位俄國大使失眠得嚴重,拜託巴哈寫一曲又長(大約全長四十五分鐘,真的很有效,只要有人選此曲當作音樂會曲目,觀眾一定三分之一睡得呼聲此起彼落…)又可以在睡前打發煩悶的心情,藉由各種不同形式的曲風,讓人心快神怡。傳說是由巴哈的得意門生郭德堡彈奏的,越說越慘了,比菲傭還可憐,只不過是個睡前彈四十五分鐘的傢伙。我卻為了熟練此曲的萬種變化,努力了一個學期,只練出十五個變奏還算勉強可以拿來考期末考的其中之一曲。所以啦!有朋自網路來,不亦樂乎!記得睡不著覺的時候,來吟詩樂坊輕鬆一下,或許可以舒解失眠之苦及工作課業壓力之苦。

郭德堡變奏曲原為“ Klavier 練習曲第四卷”也是最末一卷。大約於 1742 年出版。原題為“主題與各種變奏”(Air mit Verschiedenen Veranderungen)。全曲由主題(三十二小節的 Aria)與三十首變奏曲構成,其所謂的「變奏」並非像莫札特般地在旋律上加上裝飾,而是以Aria 的低音為基礎,所展開的自由變奏型式。此變奏曲,可分為兩部分。第一部分由第一至第十五變奏為止。第十六變奏為法國式的序曲,也是第二部分的開頭。後半的第二十五變奏可說是全曲的高峰,也是最優雅美妙的變奏曲。


The Goldberg Variations

Bach's masterpiece for the harpsichord, the crowning achievement of Baroque keyboard music, is the Aria with Thirty Variations, better known as the Goldberg Variations (Klavierubung IV). This great work sums up, as it were, all that the Baroque period could offer in variation technique. Bach's biographer Johann Forkel gives an interesting account of its composition:


For this model, according to which all variations should be made, though, for reasons easily understood, not a single one has been made after it, we are indebted to Count Kaiserling, formerly Russian Ambassador at the Court of the Elector of Saxony, who frequently resided in Leipzig, and brought with him Goldberg, who has been mentioned above, to have him instructed by Bach in music. The Count was often sickly, and then had sleepless nights. At these times Goldberg, who lived in the house with him, had to pass the night in an adjoining room to play something to him when he could not sleep. The Count once said to Bach that he should like to have some clavier pieces for his Goldberg, which should be of such a soft and somewhat lively character that he might be a little cheered up by them in his sleepless nights. Bach thought he could best fulfill this wish by variations, which, on account of the constant sameness of the fundamental harmony, he had hitherto considered as an ungrateful task. But as at this time all his works were models of art, these variations also became such under his hand. This is, indeed, the only model of the kind that he has left us. The Count thereafter called them nothing but his variations. He was never weary of hearing them; and for a long time, when the sleepless nights came, he used to say: "Dear Goldberg, do play me one of my variations. " Bach was, perhaps, never so well rewarded for any work as for this; the Count made him a present of a golden goblet, filled with a hundred Louis d'ors. But their worth as a work of art would not have been paid if the present had been a thousand times as great.

 

The theme for the Goldberg Variations came from a notebook which Bach compiled and presented to his second wife, Anna Magdalena Bach, in 1725. It is a two-part lyrical theme (Aria), richly ornate, but with a solid Imimonic support. This support forms the framework on which the Variations are based; the only change in harmony is from major to minor.

The formal plan consists of ten series of three variations each-two characteristic variations plus a canon. The canons start at the unison and progress through the ninth. These magnificent contrapuntal works are so skillin lly conceived that one is seldom aware of their technical intricacies. Many times the two canonic parts are accompanied by an active bass obbligate, thus making a three-voice instead of a two-voice variation. It is not surprising that Bach chose the comparatively technical form of the canon; with his impressive technical ability, writing in this style was as natural as verse writing for a poet.

The variations framing the canons are all the more remarkable for their immense variety when one considers that they are all within the same liarmonic framework: the fifth variation exploits crossing of hands in a light and gay spirit; the seventh variation is a kind of siciliana; the tenth is a fughetta. Variations thirteen and twenty-five are embellished arias, beautifully devised and presented with great breadth of expression. The sixteenth variation is a French Overture. The last variation is unusual: it is a quodlibet or potpourri in which Bach has adroitly fused two popular German folk songs. A work Bach definitely specified for a harpsichord with two keyboards, the Goldherg Variations stands as one of the great keyboard works of all times; it is the result of profound inspiration and displays a superb talent for idiomatic keyboard writing. One must agree with the English writer Sir Donald Tovey that "until Beethoven wrote the 'Waldstein' Sonata, the 'Goldberg' Variations were the most brilliant piece of sheer instrumental display extant. No other work by Bach himself, or by Doinernco Scarlatti, not even any concerto by Mozart or any earlier work of Beethoven could compare with it for instrumental brilliance."

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