The first hundred years

It must surely have been the case that Wilhelm Friedemann and possibly Philipp Emanuel played the Goldberg, even perhaps in some kind of public performance in the various cities to which their profession took them. But documentation has not yet emerged to say where, when and how.

Emanuel's path-breaking book on keyboard playing (Part I 1753, Part II 1762) has a final chapter on improvisation in which various idiomatic keyboard figuration is illustrated, but while several examples can be found in his father's organ music (toccatas and the like), none relates closely to figural patterns in the Goldberg. That is strange, as the Goldberg's figuration was certainly not as old-fashioned as some that Emanuel did illustrate, and it could be that he saw it as more suited to harpsichord than the fortepiano he had in mind. On the other hand, if Emanuel was involved in writing the Comparison between Handel and Bach published in Berlin in 1788 (Dok III, p. 927), as he very likely was, he did express admiration for the Goldberg, calling it a work of riches, many-sided, up-to-date and idiomatic for keyboard. The intention here was to draw a comparison to the detriment of Handel's variations, for it is clear from the Bach Obituary that Handel's success (and wealth) abroad rankled with the younger generation of Bach pupils. But since Handel's various sets of variations circulated widely, such remarks might have increased interest in Bach's one published set.