In 1741, so the story goes, Johann Sebastian Bach wrote a musical composition on the harpsichord for Count Hermann Von Keyserling, the Russian Ambassador to Saxony. The Count was afflicted by chronic insomnia, and wanted something to listen to over the court of his sleepless nights.
Hired to perform this piece for the count was Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, a 14-year-old phenomenon who possessed the technical virtuosity to play the piece, which was of extraordinary difficulty.
While there is no evidence to back up this apocryphal history, it does seem a suitable origin story for what is considered the pinnacle of piano music — even though it was written for the harpsichord — and one of the great achievements of Western art.
Bach’s Goldberg Variations, named after its first performer, will be performed at Cranbrook’s Key City Theatre for the first time, by Canadian pianist Sarah Hagen, on April 3.
Regardless of the factuality of the story of the insomniac count, for Hagen the very creation and existence of Bach’s masterpiece is significant enough.
“It really feels like divine inspiration,” Hagen said. “I’ve played so much of Bach’s music — both on stage, and just privately for myself — and there’s nothing else like the Goldberg Variations. Unto itself, in all of Bach’s writing, it’s really its own thing.”
The Goldberg Variations consist of an opening theme, or aria. The aria — a Sarabande, or Baroque dance — is followed by 30 variations of that theme, developed from the bass line of the aria. Each variation becomes a unique piece of music, with its own personality and mood. Out of a single seed grows a world of infinite possibilities, of great complexity. And “it’s so complete in its emotional content,” Hagen said.
“There’s nothing else like it. People often talk about the performances of it. But for me, the most fascinating part is the actual existence of it. That Bach wrote these notes down and asked the keyboardists to configure their body in such crazy ways to make this music come alive … It’s so inventive, and so completely ahead of its time.”
The Goldberg performances and recordings are legendary. Canadian Glenn Gould’s breakthrough recording in 1955 brought the piece into the modern world, and made him the most famous classical pianist in the world (he recorded it again in 1981, with completely different effects).
There is particular renown accorded those who take it on. Hagen herself recorded it in 2021, and toured it later that year.
“I thought [at the time], ‘who would come out for this,’” Hagen said. “This tour was the northern B.C. route — Highway 16. I quickly learned that everybody comes out for it. Because it’s just not performed that often. In the city it is, but not so much the smaller towns.”
The Goldberg Variations is a complex, challenging piece to play, with an intricate structure, of patterns within patterns within patterns.
“It’s a theme and then variations — Bach could have done anything with it,” Hagen said. “The thing for me is that each variation leads into the next. You can see that that’s part of the architecture of it. It’s my job to lend that continuity through the whole experience.”
Baroque music is very formal — mathematical in its structure, yet its equations contain a life force and expressiveness beyond other genres.
“People do like to talk about the math behind Bach, but somewhere along the line people developed a bit of a stiff approach to Bach. Especially at the piano, for some reason. And I think it’s the most expressive music of all, actually. It’s not meant to sound clinical, or mathematical at all.”
Interestingly, a piece that was written for the harpsichord seems best suited for the piano, with its dynamic range, power, and emotional quotient. And it has become one of the most important works for piano in the canon. Surely Bach would have approved.
“Sometimes, people talk about how Bach didn’t like the piano, but he just wasn’t fond of the piano as he met it,” Hagen said. “It was so early in its development — it wasn’t a satisfying instrument. So I think Bach would have loved to have heard it on the piano, and would have written so much for the piano if it was even remotely close to the instrument we know today.”
To take on the Goldbergs sonically, Hagen approached the piece visually. She created artwork out of the music — fantastical hand-cut collages on canvas, one for every variation — before she even sat down at the piano.
“This really led me into a different emotional place with the music, as opposed to being bogged down with all the technicalities. It’s helpful for me to know the structure so I can create a grand structure in the performance. But I don’t think we need to worry about that in any way. The music just washing over you, that’s the power.”
Hagen’s prints will be available at the theatre on April 3.
After all these years with the Goldberg Variations, they still have mysteries to reveal to the player.
“I’m always learning — every performance, every practice session,” Hagen said. “Each piano wants something different and shows you something different in the music.The music is so complex — I try not to limit myself to a particular interpretation. You have to be in the moment, each time. I’m always changing as a human, therefore the music is always changing.”
The audience is also affected, and comes away transformed.
“We’re all part of the performance. And it’s not so common anymore that we sit and listen to one piece of music in silence for such a long period of time. There’s something very intense about it, and beautiful, that really only happens through live performance. We’re all in the same space together, we’re all silent. And I can often hear people breathing, and often I hear that people are synchronized in their breathing.
“I think one thing that’s happened is that people are very into the Gould recordings. And sometimes get upset when they hear a live performance that doesn’t sound like Gould’s. But we have to remember that Gould didn’t write it. Bach wrote it.
“So it’s come with an open mind and an open heart. Because there’s so much of an emotional scope. And each room, each piano, each audience, each day brings something new to it.”
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On April 3, 2025, Sarah Hagen will perform Bach’s Goldberg Variations on the Key City Theatre’s Bleuthner grand piano. When the Key City Theatre acquired this stunning instrument, they brought in Anton Zanesco, a renowned Kimberley piano maker and tuner, to recondition and rehabilitate it, bringing it up to concert standard.
It is a responsive piano, light to the touch, with a depth and clarity of range. It is not a booming, aggressive piano, but it is capable of great power.
