Goldberg Variations BWV 988

The Goldberg Variations were written to the request of Count Kaiserling, who was the Russian ambassador in the Saxony Elector's court, who became ill in Leipzig. He asked Bach to write him a keyboard piece for his personal musician Johann Goldberg to play, to make it easier for him to sleep, as he suffered acute insomnia.

Bach was interested in variations at the time, a form in which he was not often engaged in the past, and he composed these variations, exploring every possibility in a mathematical and particularly detailed manner, hoping to sooth the count into sleep.

After the opening, which presents the theme, come 30 variations played consecutively, and organized in three groups of ten. Finally, the theme is played once again, concluding the circle.

Several years ago, NASA scientists sent in the "Voyager" spacecraft music pieces, images and maps of the universe including our location, in order to present our civilization to extra-terrestrial civilizations that may meet the craft. Glenn Gould's performance of the Goldberg Variations was attached to this selection of representative material of global culture.