Music Box
May 21, 2023
Melinda Coffey Armstead, piano
Jubal Joslyn, tenor
Cathryn Wilkinson, organ
Music Box
Prelude
“The Goldberg Variations” J. S. Bach
Prelude: Aria
Variations:
1 Polonaise
2 Gavotte
3 Canon at the unison
4 Passepied
5 Toccata
6 Canon at a 2nd
7 Gigue
8 Allemande
9 Canon at a 3rd
10 Fughetta
11 Toccata
16 French Overture and Fugue
Offertory
Goldberg Variations: Bach
13 Arioso, “The White Pearl”
14 Toccata
Postlude
Bach
Goldberg Variations
29 Toccata
30 Quodlibet (“whatever you like”)
Welcome home to Melinda Coffey Armstead, familiar to us and still loved as the former music director at Church in the Forest. Melinda continues to perform at the keyboard throughout the Carmel area. She writes:
“They say Bach wrote the 30 Goldberg Variations for a young (14!) musician, Johann Goldberg, to play for Karl von Keyserlingk, who was both an insomniac and Russian ambassador to Saxony, Germany. Some medical experts believe it was probably the insomnia part that caused sleeplessness, and he would often nod off before the speaker got to the verb, even if he himself was the speaker. So he asked Bach to write something soporific. These 30 variations are regarded as the most ambitious Baroque keyboard compositions of all time. They were written for a harpsichord having two keyboards. Some pianists enjoy the challenge of playing them on a single keyboard, while others are mildly annoyed (“Sets my hair on fire.”). The variations display Bach’s exceptional knowledge and technique. They soar high above all other keyboard pieces published during the Baroque, and qualify as a summation of the entire genre.
Enjoy!”
MCA
