Help with Kirkpatrick edition of Goldberg Variations

[dtmowns]

Hello, I've noticed that in this edition, in his modified scores above the original text, sometimes he transposes and flips things to different clefs etc.... but I don't understand sometimes they are actually different notes!

For instance look at page 22 (Variation eight) Bar 20 and see if you can make sense if the alternate text above the original, the notes don't match!

Forgive my ignorance...as I am sure there is an explanation

[dkainoa]

Although i'm not able to open the pdf of the Kirkpatrick edition right now, i think that I can, nonetheless, answer your question.  Because the variations were written for a two manual harpsichord certain passages become quite difficult to execute properly if at all with a single manual piano.  The editor may be writing a revision of sorts for ease in playing on the single manual.  I bet that if you check the same measure with the Urtext (which you've also posted) you'll find that the schematic would be impossible or very difficult to play on a single manual.

[bananafish]

I assume the part you are a bit confused of is the first beat of measure 20? I just checked my score and they appeared to be correct. Notice in the original score, the top melody is in bass clef and the lower melody in treble clef. What the editor did was flipped the clefs back to their normal positions (treble on top, bass on bottom), and he re-wrote the original lower melody from treble clef to bass clef, and the top melody from bass clef to treble clef. You can still tell which note belongs to which part of the original by looking at their stem directions.

For beats two and three, he simply flipped the clefs and put what was the bass melody on top to where the treble clef is and vice versa. 

Hope this helps 

[benechan]

You might find this useful
How to play Bach's Goldberg Variations BWV 988 analysis and tips by Danielle Osman [Piano Sage Blog]
https://pianosage.blogspot.com/2011/12/how-to-play-bachs-goldberg-variations.html

Guest blogger Danielle Osman, once member of the Boston Repertory Orchestra and Harvard Musical Association Orchestra of Boston discusses Bach's Goldberg Variations, the technical and musical challenges involved and how she overcame them.