Editing Goldberg Variations (section)

=== Variatio 7. a 1 ô vero 2 Clav. al tempo di Giga ===
{{listen|type=music|help=no|filename=Goldberg Variations 08 Variatio 7 a 1 ovvero 2 Clav.ogg|title=Variatio 7. a 1 ô vero 2 Clav. al tempo di Giga|description=Performed by Kimiko Douglass-Ishizaka on piano}}
The variation is in {{time signature|6|8}} meter, suggesting several possible Baroque dances. In 1974, when scholars discovered Bach's own copy of the first printing of the ''Goldberg Variations'', they noted that over this variation Bach had added the heading ''al tempo di [[gigue|Giga]]''. But the implications of this discovery for modern performance have turned out to be less clear than was at first assumed. In his book ''The Keyboard Music of J. S. Bach''{{sfn|Schulenberg|2006|page=[https://archive.org/details/keyboardmusicjsb00schu/page/n388 380]}} the scholar and keyboardist David Schulenberg notes that the discovery "surprised twentieth-century commentators who supposed gigues were always fast and fleeting." However, "despite the Italian terminology [''giga''], this is a [less fleet] French gigue." Indeed, he notes, the dotted rhythmic pattern of this variation (pictured) is very similar to that of the gigue from Bach's second [[French Suites|French suite]] and the gigue of the ''[[Overture in the French style, BWV 831|French Overture]]''. This kind of gigue is known as a "Canary", based on the rhythm of a dance which originated from the Canary islands.
<score>
\new PianoStaff <<
 \new Staff \relative c'' {
  \key g \major \time 6/8
  b8. a16 b8 d,8. g16 b8 |
  a8.\prall g16 a8 d4. |
  g8.\mordent fis16 g8 a,8. e'16 g8 |
  fis8.\prall e16 fis8 d4. |
 }
 \new Staff \relative c' {
  \key g \major \clef bass
  g4\mordent g,8 g'4.~\mordent |
  g4. fis8.\prall e16 d8 |
  e4 d'8 cis4 a8 |
  d4.~ d8. e16 c8 |
 }
>>
</score>
He concludes, "It need not go quickly." Moreover, Schulenberg adds that the "numerous short [[trill (music)|trills]] and [[appoggiaturas]]" preclude too fast a tempo.

The pianist [[Angela Hewitt]], in the liner notes to her 1999 Hyperion recording, argues that by adding the ''al tempo di giga'' notation, Bach was trying to caution against taking too slow a tempo, and thus turning the dance into a [[forlane]] or [[siciliana|siciliano]]. She does however argue, like Schulenberg, that it is a French ''gigue'', not an Italian ''giga'' and does play it at an unhurried tempo.