Johann Sebastian Bach created some of the most significant music in
history, including A Keyboard Practice Consisting of an Aria with
Thirty Variations for the Harpsichord--commonly known as the Goldberg
Variations. Goldberg is Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, a young musician in
the court of Count Keyserlingk, a Russian ambassador living in Dresden.
It isn't known for certain why Bach's difficult composition was named
for the young man, but Anna Harwell Celenza gives us one possible story
based on extensive research.