The motivation behind this transcription and re-engraving of these Goldberg Variations 
	 is a simple one; to make available to guitarists one of the great treasures of Baroque art. In that quest, 
	 a single value has come to dominate this work 
	   
	   
	         1) to preserve and render as accurately as possible the structure(s) of Bach's work in the context 
	 of a modern guitar ensemble and a standard instrument. 
	   
	   
	         The \ standard\  guitar being considered has 19 frets and is in dropped D tuning. ie. strings are 
	 tuned DADGBE. The original key is preserved throughout the transcription, as it is best accommodated 
	 and serves the original intent most faithfully. 
	   
	         Starting from this foundation, whatever resources were assembled that the structures demanded. 
	 In general it could be stated that each voice that is present in the variation has its representative as a 
	 single instrument in the ensemble. The resulting work therefore contains 13 variations for 2 guitars, 
	 13 variations for 3 guitars and 4 for 4 guitars. 
	   
	         While the clavier is dissimilar to the the guitar in many ways, the Goldberg Variations are  
	 unsurprisingly quite sympathetic to it. Both the clavier and guitar are plucked chordophones 
	 that suffer the similar acoustic defects (strengths?) of volume and sustenance. 
	   
	         Most of the original structure(s) can be preserved through octave transposition when carefully 
	 considered. In the few instances where this is not possible, alternatives were developed and 
	 documented. Bach's instrumental works are of such a quality that they can often be considered 
         as \ generic music\ : they transcribe well for instruments other than the target of its original 
         composition. That is mostly the case with the Goldberg Variations. To the extent that 
         there may be variations that are idiomatic to the keyboard, they have been accommodated as 
         much as possible and are included for completeness. 
	   
	         Guitar fingering is interperative and personal, particularly for music not initially conceived 
	 for guitar, so this work is presented with no guitar fingering. All slurs are phrasing slurs and appear  
         as in the original. 
	   
	         The Aria has two versions presented. Version 1.7e is for two guitars in standard tuning, 
	 version 1.8 is for three guitars in dropped D tuning. 
	   
	         Finding a reliable authority for Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, is problematic as 
discussed 
	 by Erich Schwandt[1]. The source materials from which this transcription is derived are the 
	 Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe, Band 3, the facsimile of Bach's own copy ('Handexemplar') of the 
	 first edition, and the results of the OpenGoldberg project.  These documents are in the Public Domain 
	 and can be found here 
	   
	         http://imslp.org/wiki/Goldberg-Variationen,_BWV_988_(Bach,_Johann_Sebastian) 
	   
	   
	   
	   
}}}
	\markup { [1] http://scholarship.claremont.edu/ppr/vol3/iss1/2 }
}