List of Hand-written Changes in Bach's Personal Copy
Bach's personal copy of the Goldberg Variations has been discovered in 1975. It contains some hand-written corrections in Bach's own hand and, on the last page (p. 32 of our scan), the manuscript of 14 canons about the first eight bass notes of the Goldberg Aria ("Verschiedene Canones über die ersteren acht fundamental=Noten vorheriger Arie. von J.S.Bach"). Sadly our scan, apart from missing the first page, doesn't allow to decipher anything of these additions. The following list may help to identify Bach's corrections of the Goldberg Variations. It is based on the list of "the most important entrys" given by the G. Henle Verlag (revised edition 1979 of Goldberg Variations (and more), p.115).
u = upper staff, l = lower staff, b = between staves
Incomplete bars at beginning of system are counted.
| Variation |
Page of Print |
System/Bar |
Staff |
Addition
|
| Aria |
missing |
bar 19 of Aria |
|
»slur above 32nd-notes in treble« (Henle)
|
| 5 |
6 |
1/3 |
u |
slurs from 1st to 2nd and from 3d to 4th note
|
| 7 |
7 |
3/1 |
under l |
tempo indication »al tempo di Giga.«
|
| 8 |
8 |
5/3 |
l |
sharp before last note c
|
| 9 |
9 |
4/3 |
u |
grace note before 1st note
|
| 9 |
9 |
4/4 |
b |
grace note before 1st note; shake on b
|
| 10 |
9 |
6/1 |
l |
mordent on half note
|
| 10 |
9 |
6/5 |
b |
mordent on half note
|
| 13 |
13 |
1/3 |
u |
turn above last note g
|
| 14 |
14 |
2/5-3/3 |
both |
staccato marks
|
| 14 |
14 |
4/3-5/2 |
both |
staccato marks
|
| 14 |
14 |
7/3 - p. 15 1/3 |
both |
staccato marks
|
| 14 |
15 |
3/1-2 |
both |
staccato marks
|
| 25 |
25 |
3/2 |
b |
tempo indication »adagio«
|
| 25 |
25 |
3/2 and 3 |
u |
grace notes before 8th notes b flat and a flat
|
| 25 |
25 |
4/3 and 4 |
u |
grace notes before 8th notes d and e flat
|
| 25 |
25 |
7/2 |
u |
grace note before 8th note b flat
|
| 26 |
26 |
6/2 |
l |
grace note
|
| 26 |
26 |
7/1 and 3 |
l |
grace notes before quarter notes f sharp and b
|
| 26 |
27 |
1/3 |
u |
mordent under quarter note f sharp
|
| 26 |
27 |
2/1 |
u |
mordent under quarter note e
|
| 26 |
27 |
2/2 – 5/3 |
both |
grace notes
|
| 26 |
27 |
6/1-3 |
u |
grace notes
|
