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.