It is said that Count Keyserling had a sickly nature, and for this reason, he suffered sleepless nights. Music helped him to find solace, so he asked Bach to compose new pieces for his private harpsichordist Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, a student of Bach’s eldest son. The count wished for Bach to write something uplifting which might divert his thoughts and cheer up his sleepless nights. Bach fulfilled the Count’s wish by composing 32 variations, and Goldberg then spent his nights in an antechamber playing on his harpsichord, and so comforting the sleepless Count.

 

Almost 300 years later, the Goldberg Variations are still the melodies that give us comfort in our sleepless nights. The short film I made, The Fourth Voice, is inspired by the music from the Goldberg Variations. It is, for me, a very personal commemoration, and a call to live with care and to honour all the small things and apparently minor details of our lives. Through this recording and my short film, I hope to bring a bit of salve and reliance to the listeners’ souls.