The “Goldberg” Variations are without a doubt the most important piano cycle of the 18th century. Only Beethoven’s “Diabelli” Variations from the 19th century can be compared to them as far their far-reaching significance is concerned. Bach’s own manuscript might not have survived, but the corrected first printing of the “Aria mit verschiedenen Veraenderungen vors Clavicimbal mit 2 Manualen” (thus the title) has done so. This first edition serves as the primary source for our edition; furthermore the musical text was compared to other sources as, for example, with Bach’s own record of the “Aria” (not yet referred to as such) in the little notebook for Anna Magdalena.
《哥德堡變奏曲》無疑是18世紀最重要的鋼琴變奏曲。就其深遠影響而言,只有19世紀貝多芬的《迪亞貝利變奏曲》可以與之媲美。巴赫的原稿或許已不復存在,但經校正的首版印刷本「Aria mit verschiedenen Veraenderungen vors Clavicimbal mit 2 Manualen」(即本書標題)得以保存。本版的主要參考資料正是這首首版;此外,我們還將樂譜與其他資料進行了比對,例如巴赫本人在寫給安娜·瑪格達萊娜的小筆記本中記錄的“詠嘆調”(當時尚未如此稱呼)。