Johann Sebastian Bach’s Goldberg Variations contains 30 variations.
The work, catalogued as BWV 988, begins and ends with the same aria. Between those statements of the aria are 30 variations, creating a carefully organized cycle for keyboard. The variations explore different textures, rhythms, canons, and virtuoso techniques.
The work was published in 1741 as the fourth part of Bach’s Clavier-Übung series. Its title comes from Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, a keyboard player associated with Count Hermann Karl von Keyserlingk, although the famous story that Goldberg regularly played the work to help the count sleep is not firmly established.
The number 30 refers to the variations themselves, not to the entire sequence of pieces. Counting the opening and closing aria as well would produce 32 sections, which is why descriptions sometimes appear to differ.