Bach. Goldberg Variations. Variatio 26

Description

This Variation is another virtuosic two-part toccata, joyous and fast-paced. Underneath the rapid arabesques, written in 18/16, the accompaniment, in quarter and eight notes, written in 3/4 is basically a sarabande, i.e. a slow dance with the accent on the second movement; during the last five bars, both hands play in 18/16.

The mood of this variation is very lively, especially if compared to the previous one (No. 25). The construction of these two variations represents the rhetoric figures of Katabasis (descent, depression) and Anabasis (ascent). We find the same rhetoric figures, for instance, in Bach’s B minor Mass, in the “Crucifixus” and “Et resurrexit”. For this reason, I play this variation as a constant crescendo, which helps to represent the ascent of a state of happiness.