Noctave
The piece
This sarabande in G major opens the Goldberg Variations, published in Nuremberg in 1741 by Balthasar Schmid as the fourth part of the Clavier-Übung. It already appears, copied in Anna Magdalena Bach's hand, in her second notebook. Its thirty-two bars, and above all its bass line, carry the thirty variations; the aria returns unchanged at the very end. This version follows the Bach-Gesellschaft edition and plays both repeats.
The melody is covered in ornaments: trills, mordents, appoggiaturas. Learn it first without them so you hear the line, then add them one at a time without pushing the three-beat pulse. The left hand leads two or three voices, including the slow bass on which everything rests: play it alone several times. Keep an even, light touch; this music was conceived for the harpsichord, where no note stands out by force.