Canons on the Goldberg ground, BWV 1087 by Glen Wilson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOZ1JK4Dqdg

Audio: Canons on the Goldberg ground, BWV 1087 was composed by J.S.Bach and attached as the appendix of his “Goldberg Variation” in the form of fourteen canons. It is my favorite music piece because of, more than the melody, its mathematical nature. Bach has employed amazing techniques of which the most basic is called Canon Simplex. Notes in the lower staff is a upside-down version of those in the upper staff. Thus the melodies overlap one another in a reversed manner. A more complex rule mirrors the notes in the upper staff. The inversion follows the subject and its tempo is one-fourth slower. Another rule is called Double Canon in 4 parts, which is basically the same as the second rule. I want to visually illustrate the mathematical elements which makes the variation a unique masterpiece.