Perhaps the most celebrated composer who wrote for the harpsichord was J. S. Bach ( 1685 – 1750 ), whose solo works ( for instance, the Well-Tempered Clavier and the Goldberg Variations ), continue to be performed very widely, often on the piano.

* 1741: Goldberg Variations for harpsichord published by Bach

She translated this novel into English as The Goldberg Variations ( 1996 ).

* The Goldberg Variations ( 1996 )

Title page of the Goldberg Variations ( first edition )

The Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, is a work for harpsichord by Johann Sebastian Bach, consisting of an aria and a set of 30 variations.

The Variations are named after Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, who may have been the first performer.

Rather unusually for Bach's works, the Goldberg Variations were published in his own lifetime, in 1741.

Peter Williams opines in Bach: The Goldberg Variations that this is not the theme at all, but actually the first variation ( a view emphasising the idea of the work as a chaconne rather than a piece in true variation form ).

As with all canons of the Goldberg Variations ( except the 27th variation, canon at the ninth ), there is a supporting bass line here.

In 1974, when scholars discovered Bach's own copy of the first printing of the Goldberg Variations, they noted that over this variation Bach had added the heading al tempo di Giga.

In making his 1981 re-recording of the Goldberg Variations, Glenn Gould considered playing this variation at a slower tempo, in keeping with the tempo of the preceding variation ( Variation 16 ), but ultimately decided not to because " Variation 17 is one of those rather skittish, slightly empty-headed collections of scales and arpeggios which Bach indulged when he wasn ’ t writing sober and proper things like fugues and canons, and it just seemed to me that there wasn't enough substance to it to warrant such a methodical, deliberate, Germanic tempo.

Commenting on the structure of the canons of the Goldberg Variations, Glenn Gould cited this variation as the extreme example of " deliberate duality of motivic emphasis [...] the canonic voices are called upon to sustain the passacaille role which is capriciously abandoned by the bass.

Wanda Landowska famously described this variation as " the black pearl " of the Goldberg Variations.

It was found in 1974, in Strasbourg ( Alsace, France ), forming an appendix to Bach's personal printed edition of the Goldberg Variations.

The Goldberg Variations have been reworked freely by many performers, changing either the instrumentation, the notes, or both.

* Werner Schweer The Goldberg Variations, MuseScore Edition created for the Open Goldberg Variations Project and released as public domain.

Edition of the Goldberg Variations.

Bach: The Goldberg Variations.

* Goldberg Variations BWV 988 / 1087, Oregon Bach Festival

* The Goldberg Variations made new-Review of Glenn Gould's and Simone Dinnerstein's renditions

* Bach-cantatas. com: The Goldberg Variations-Comprehensive discography

A number of projects, many with recordings new to Gavrilov's discography, were announced in 1992 but not realized: Bach's English Suites, the complete Beethoven piano concerti, the Choral Fantasia and the Diabelli Variations, as well as vaguer plans for works by Liszt ( Transcendental Etudes, Paganini Etudes ), Ravel's complete works for piano solo and with orchestra, and the piano concertos of Grieg and Schumann.