£150,000 Estimate for Rare First Edition of Bach's Goldberg Variations at Auction

Significant J S Bach, Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Brahms musical manuscripts belonging to scientist and baritone Sir Ralph Kohn come to auction next month.

Music played an extremely important role for Sir Ralph Kohn (1927-2016) from childhood, and the collection he assembled will be offered as a highlight of Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern auction. Open for bidding online November 29 - December 12, the extremely rare printed and manuscript music - especially relating to the Bach family - is coming to the market for the first time.

Enriched by his professional activities as a pharmacologist, Kohn embarked on his collecting journey. The star lot at auction is a first edition of Bach’s Goldberg Variations (1741) (estimate: £100,000-150,000), one of the most celebrated editions of the 18th century. First editions of J.S Bach’s music published during his lifetime are extremely rare at auction, and this is the only major source for the Goldberg Variations as no autograph manuscript exists. Beautifully engraved, it is one of the finest and rarest music editions, with other surviving manuscripts of the work thought to be based directly or indirectly on this first edition.

Also going under the hammer is a first edition, second issue, of the Italian Concerto and French Overture (1736) (estimate: £40,000–50,000). Taken as a whole, the four parts of the Clavier-Übung represent the apogee of Bach's writing for the keyboard, whether for harpsichord, as in the case of Clavier-Übung I (1731), II (1735) and IV (1741-2), or for organ, as in Clavier-Übung III (1739). Only two other copies of the second part of the Clavier-Übung have been traced at auction during the last 20 years. This second issue was produced in November 1736 in order to correct the very large number of errors contained in the first edition. 
  
An autograph manuscript score of Mendelssohn's arrangement for violin and piano of the opening movement of J.S. Bach's Partita No.3 in E major for unaccompanied violin, BWV 1006 has an estimate of £20,000–30,000. Before its discovery in a Sotheby’s sale in 1999 this arrangement was entirely unknown, undocumented and unpublished. It provides another link in the reception history of Bach’s music in the 19th century and also shows the great interest that Mendelssohn had for his illustrious predecessor in Leipzig. 

Mendelssohn was the major figure in the revival of the music of Bach, and his performances of the St. Matthew Passion in 1829, in Berlin, and in 1841 in Leipzig, are both major events in the modern history of Bach’s music. Of particular interest are the dynamic markings, probably added by Mendelssohn during rehearsals. The first modern performance of this arrangement took place under Sir Ralph Kohn’s auspices at Buckingham Palace in London on December 7, 2000.