Bueno... he escuchado muchas interpretaciones de las Variaciones. Creo que la primera fue la de Wanda Landowska. Y ahora ando sobrecogida con esta. Me ha contado cosas de las Variaciones que nunca había descubierto. por momentos me ha parecido escuchar un órgano. Soy del sur de España, y el flamenco lo tengo en la sangre, aunque lo que más escucho es a Bach. Pero el baile es especial aquí, la Soleá. Me parecía escuchar a Bach por soleares. Ahora me dispongo a hacer un cuadro de las Variaciones. Pinto y ya he hecho el de El Clave bien temperado y el de La Pasión según San Mateo. Estoy sobrecogida y muy agradecida al hecho de haber conocido estas Variaciones. Me han cautivado el alma de forma muy sorprendente. Jamás imaginada! Gracias a Blandine y a nnamffohsaile por compartirla con todos nosotros. Las he escuchado completas y mi felicidad es gigante. No tengo palabras para definirla. Para dar gracias inmensas!!!!!
Here is a harpsichordist of genius who takes you on journeys through time. She convincingly seems to be re-visiting the baroque past as if she'd really known it. As unorthodox this interpretation sounds to some, I ,personally, believe she's spot on as always. Gould 's highly idiosyncratic and unusual Salzburg piano interpretation -also on RUclips - is a tribute to the nature of the Goldberg variations :it's the ultimate whimsical baroque fantasy after all ,complete with bewildering tempos and trills galore. And yes, that instrument is great but so is Blandine Verlet's magical touch! A truly great artist !
I agree that this is an unorthodox interpretation; she plays it with so many trills, like Rameau or Couperin is usually played; sometimes, there's too much rubato... But I'd rather listen to this than the other 123 interpretations that sound all the same.
This interpretation is perfectly valid. As valid as Gould/Hewitt/Koopman/Leonhardt etc etc. etc. Great instrument and recording too. Viva la difference.
Central Europe in the early eighteenth century was dominated by French cultural ideals and taste - even Frederick the Great wrote and studied in the language - he even took on Voltaire personally, ultimately in Prussian army fashion - he was nicer to JS Bach, admittedly. The Goldberg Variations are to a considerable extent composed in French - and however they are played they have to be listened to from a French standpoint, which is how Verlet plays them.
Instead, Blandine Verlet is the only one that plays the Goldberg in the right way, with the tempo between MM = 73 and 80. In many play the air slowly and with all the attention on the ornaments, leaving the melody only as accessory, just because Wanda Landowska was the first to play it like this, and no one took the trouble to investigate whether it was right or not.
J'avoue que lors de ma première écoute, j'ai eu une réaction de dégoût et de rejet après avoir entendu l'aria, cependant maintenant que je l'écoute environ un an après, j'y trouve une certaine beauté, et une nouvelle lecture intéressante de la pièce. Je pense que stylistiquement ce n'est pas si aberrant : la musique de Bach est plus " ouverte" et n'a pas la rectitude d'écriture d'un Couperin par exemple, Bach aimait beaucoup s'amuser et n'était pas puriste, alors pourquoi pas Madame Verlet?
The work is an Aria with 30 variations, not Sarabande with 30 variations. An air could be anywhere between 48 to 120 beats per minute as 3/4 can be quite variable as to Tempo. I prefer it slower than Ms Verlet interpretation, but faster than some of the dragging tempos.
@@zacharybond23 Arnold Schering in his 1947 edition of the 1725 Anna Magdalena Notebook (in the USA published by Kalmus) made the comparison (the first I saw of it). I don't see a resemblance as the Aria is unlike J S Bach's many Sarabandes in his Suites or Partitas. J S Bach had an Aria variata in A minor, BWV 989. There's a few other Air and Variations that are incomplete, similar to the Chromatic Fugue paired with a Fantasy in C minor. J S Bach would have written Sarabande and Variations, just as Rameau had published. Handel (Chaconne) as well Boerm, Buxtehude wrote an aria with 32 variations (not 30 as Bach had), Pachelbel, used similar first 8 measures bass line in (under various Suite names) works of G major, too.
@@Renshen1957 It seems as though Forkel also likened it to that of a Sarabande. I am not a music expert by any means, and am just mentioning what other more knowledgeable people have said on the Aria. There are quite a few sources that seem to see the Aria as a Sarabande style piece. The book titled as "Dance and the Music of J. S. Bach, Expanded Edition" calls it as a piece with the rhythm of a Sarabande. I shall quote it for you: "The keyboard Aria which forms the basis for 30 subsequent variations in the Goldberg Variations (1741-42) is possibly the most poignant and lyrical of Bach's pieces in Sarabande rhythm, and, in fact, is in bipartite form and easily serves as a textbook model for the Sarabande. (Ex. XIV-37)" The book then goes to show measures 1-4 of the Aria.
@@zacharybond23 Forkel makes a point, that there is an accent on the 2nd beat, similar to a Sarabande, however, if one compares the Aria to J S Bach's Sarabande in G maj French Suite, the Sarabande as written emphasis isn't on the 2nd beat except in Soprano line. Arias, Allemandes, in fact almost all of the movements in a Suite are in Binary form, just as many of J S Bach's preludes uses this form, as he does for the Aria with variations in the Italian manor. 3/4 without tempo indication is a wild card signature in Tempo ordinario, however, compared to common time, 3/4 was quicker (except when a Dance title is present. Aria tempos (binary and Da Capo) are mentioned by Theorists as well. J S Bach oversaw the publications of his works, and would have indicated Sarabande in the Title. Which brings up J. N. Forkel. Born one year before J S Bach's death, he is commended for his work in his communication with W F Bach, and C P E Bach as to their father to have first hand information. Besides being a Chauvinistic writer, he isn't the most accurate in his accounts. Take his description of the event written 60 years after the occurence: "...we have to thank the instigation of the former Russian ambassador to the electoral court of Saxony, Count Kaiserling, who often stopped in Leipzig and brought there with him the aforementioned Goldberg, in order to have him given musical instruction by Bach. The Count was often ill and had sleepless nights. At such times, Goldberg, who lived in his house, had to spend the night in an antechamber, so as to play for him during his insomnia. ... Once the Count mentioned in Bach's presence that he would like to have some clavier pieces for Goldberg, which should be of such a smooth and somewhat lively character that he might be a little cheered up by them in his sleepless nights. Bach thought himself best able to fulfill this wish by means of Variations, the writing of which he had until then considered an ungrateful task on account of the repeatedly similar harmonic foundation. But since at this time all his works were already models of art, such also these variations became under his hand. Yet he produced only a single work of this kind. Thereafter the Count always called them his variations. He never tired of them, and for a long time sleepless nights meant: 'Dear Goldberg, do play me one of my variations.' Bach was perhaps never so rewarded for one of his works as for this. The Count presented him with a golden goblet filled with 100 louis-d'or. Nevertheless, even had the gift been a thousand times larger, their artistic value would not yet have been paid for." Yes wonderfully florid, but is it accurate? von Keyserling was appointed Ambassador of the Russian Empire at the court of August III in Dresden and Warsaw in 1734, approximately the time he discovered the prodigy Goldberg. (W Friedemann Bach attained his appointed in June of 1733 to the position of organist of the St. Sophia's Church, Dresden.). He kept this position until his death. (As the Russian ambassador to the imperial court in Vienna he was made an imperial count in 1744. ). In in 1734 Bach performed a secular cantata, a dramma per musica, BWV 215, in honour of Augustus, in the presence of the King and Queen, the first movement of which was later adapted into the B minor Mass Hosanna. Goldberg was 10 at the time of his discovery (1737) and 14 at time of the variations publication. J S Bach made an appearance in Dresden after he was appointed Royal Polish and Electoral Saxon Court Composer, in 1736. (Source C P E Bach and J.Altnickol (Son in Law), Neckrolog (obituary) J S Bach. J S Bach was politically savvy as concerns nobility (from hard earned experience); had von Keyserling commissioned the work, J S Bach, after the fashion of the "Brandenburg Concertos," and the Musical Offering would have prepared (with assistance) a dedication to the Count. It's absent. There's speculation that Goldberg took lessons from W F Bach. J S Bach performed at St. Sophia's church on the Silbermann Organ in 1725 and 1747. The latter date is 5 years after the publication of the Air with Variations, for a Harpsichord with 2 manuals, as it was referenced in 1753 (Nekrolog). The nickname doesn't appear in reference to the variations (or the handwritten manuscript copies of the 18th Century), until after Forkel's fictitious account. The 100 Louis d' Or are not mentioned the Nekrolog as the Marchand loss by default to J S Bach, and the gift of the King of 500 Thalers (reported stolen by a court official) make mention. I played works by Johan Gottlieb Goldberg, I rate his Harpsichord Concertos as equal to both of the Maria Barbara' Bach's sons. He may or may not been a student of J S Bach in Leipzig, similarity of cantatas Goldberg composed to those by J S Bach, but that could be from the tutelage and study with W F Bach. Goldberg's presence in Leipzig can also be ascertained because of the presence of performance parts for one of his cantatas, Durch die herzliche Barmherzigkeit. To quote a biography, "Goldberg remained with Count Keyserlingk until around 1745, and disappears from the record until around 1750, when he was included in a concert described by W.F. Bach in a letter of 1767. In 1751 Goldberg was hired by Count Heinrich von Brühl, and he remained in the employ of Brühl for the rest of his short life. He died of tuberculosis at the age of 29 and was buried in Dresden on 15 April 1756.
@@georgegyulatyan3263 The original 18th century instrument was originally invented to be played in this style, with delicate ornamentation to be in place of unwanted silence. If Blandine Verlet were to perform the Variations on the harpsichord in the style of, say, Glenn Gould, then it would sound horrible, due to the harpsichord's lack of sustainability. The sustain and damper pedals were only introduced in the late 18th century, around the time that Mozart was composing his last piano concertos and sonatas. The sustain aspect was originally introduced as a knee pressure plate placed on the underside of the body of the keyboard, and was later reinvented in the mid-19th century as pedals. So, what I'm really trying to say is that Verlet is performing in a completely appropriate Baroque style, which shows Bach's brilliance perfectly.
@@RequiemAeternam01 you can improvise, as well as embellish without turning it into a rhythmic train wreck. Yes, improvisation and ornamentation was a major part of the performance, this, however should not be done at the expense of rhythmic integrity. Ornamentation isn’t the issue here, the excessive rubato is.
Ok, I am sorry, but the Aria was completely ridiculous. Someone sometime in the 60s figured out that Baroque didn't mean "rhythmically stiff" and that SOME rubato was OK. Indeed composers would even write the "wrong" number of notes in a measure to indicate this. Bach's C minor prelude from Well Tempered Klavier Book I is a good example of this. But that didn't mean that one should completely obliterate any feeling of rhythm in the manner that miss Verlet has done in this recording.
An aria (air) could be anywhere between 48 to 120 beats per minute as 3/4 can be quite variable as to Tempo. The Rubato which in existed in the Baroque was in the right hand against a strict tempo in the left. I have have heard recent (modern) interpretations of rubato applied to Baroque pieces, that was similar to if one could imagine, a drunken clock in which the battery not keeping accurate time, some times faster and then slower, and almost stopping, and then staggering onwards; in other words unlistenable. When Frederick the Great of Prussia commented on a piece "What Rhythm!" he just finished playing, his court harpsichordist who accompanied him, CPE Bach, retorted "Such Rhythms." It was a left handed compliment on the King's playing (an oblique reference that king wasn't keeping time).
The Theme is an aria. But the fact remains that it is an aria in the style of Sarabande, or at least a walking dance, a slow aria with cantabile style embellishments, like dozens and dozens of baroque arias in Italian style written by Bach, Handel, Scarlatti, Bononcini, Corelli, Platti, Albinoni, Bomporti etc. etc. / The style in which the bass line is written is perfectly recognizable as the basis for an Adagio and NOT for a Minuet or Passepied... / Bach lived in an era with shared writing styles, like every musician in every era, and indeed like today. Bach uses writing exactly relevantly and idiomatically, like his contemporaries. He has no desire, or reason, to want to appear extravagant.
Видеоклипы
Bueno... he escuchado muchas interpretaciones de las Variaciones. Creo que la primera fue la de Wanda Landowska. Y ahora ando sobrecogida con esta. Me ha contado cosas de las Variaciones que nunca había descubierto. por momentos me ha parecido escuchar un órgano. Soy del sur de España, y el flamenco lo tengo en la sangre, aunque lo que más escucho es a Bach. Pero el baile es especial aquí, la Soleá. Me parecía escuchar a Bach por soleares. Ahora me dispongo a hacer un cuadro de las Variaciones. Pinto y ya he hecho el de El Clave bien temperado y el de La Pasión según San Mateo. Estoy sobrecogida y muy agradecida al hecho de haber conocido estas Variaciones. Me han cautivado el alma de forma muy sorprendente. Jamás imaginada! Gracias a Blandine y a
nnamffohsaile por compartirla con todos nosotros. Las he escuchado completas y mi felicidad es gigante. No tengo palabras para definirla. Para dar gracias inmensas!!!!!
I love this variations mostly the number one , the sense of dance perfect rythm and phrasing. Verlet is one of my alltime favorites.
Here is a harpsichordist of genius who takes you on journeys through time. She convincingly seems to be re-visiting the baroque past as if she'd really known it. As unorthodox this interpretation sounds to some, I ,personally, believe she's spot on as always. Gould 's highly idiosyncratic and unusual Salzburg piano interpretation -also on RUclips - is a tribute to the nature of the Goldberg variations :it's the ultimate whimsical baroque fantasy after all ,complete with bewildering tempos and trills galore. And yes, that instrument is great but so is Blandine Verlet's magical touch! A truly great artist !
This is simply sublime.
Bach was a pious but free spirit - no closed little mind could achieve what he has achieved.
Version authentique qui donne à penser que Blandine a vécu à cette époque....une réincarnation de plus....
Amie de Paul Ferbos....
Fascinating! Love it.
C'est magique!!!
terrific musician, this is an older interpretatiion, I like the one on the ruckers harpsichord.
最近、RUclipsで、知られざる、素晴らしいゴールドベルクのめいえんを起句機会があるが、
この演奏は、その中でもベストだ。
装飾音は、バッハの音楽では、重要な要素であるはずなのに、
この演奏で、初めてお目にかかった。
グールドは、この演奏を見習うべきだった。
clavecin Hans Ruckers sans doute !
thanks for sharing this. god loves you.
Very interesting, thanks for sharing.
Slil have this album in the box with the ; Clavierübung'
stupefacente
sarà una lettura "purista", ma l'interpretazione é originale e godibile.
There should be lots of room for different interpretations. This one is really very interesting. Beautiful instrument too.
I agree that this is an unorthodox interpretation; she plays it with so many trills, like Rameau or Couperin is usually played; sometimes, there's too much rubato... But I'd rather listen to this than the other 123 interpretations that sound all the same.
This is really fascinating and beautiful. There seem to be 2 Goldberg recordings by Verlet on the market. Does anyone know which one this is?
I think this is the earlier one.
This one was released on Philips as a two LP box set.
This interpretation is perfectly valid. As valid as Gould/Hewitt/Koopman/Leonhardt etc etc. etc. Great instrument and recording too. Viva la difference.
Central Europe in the early eighteenth century was dominated by French cultural ideals and taste - even Frederick the Great wrote and studied in the language - he even took on Voltaire personally, ultimately in Prussian army fashion - he was nicer to JS Bach, admittedly. The Goldberg Variations are to a considerable extent composed in French - and however they are played they have to be listened to from a French standpoint, which is how Verlet plays them.
Instead, Blandine Verlet is the only one that plays the Goldberg in the right way, with the tempo between MM = 73 and 80. In many play the air slowly and with all the attention on the ornaments, leaving the melody only as accessory, just because Wanda Landowska was the first to play it like this, and no one took the trouble to investigate whether it was right or not.
There are many “right” interpretations. There’s no ONE right way.
But why is the theme a variation?
magnifique ! superbe !mais Jean Rondeau reste incomparable ! pour moi !
あかん。
J'avoue que lors de ma première écoute, j'ai eu une réaction de dégoût et de rejet après avoir entendu l'aria, cependant maintenant que je l'écoute environ un an après, j'y trouve une certaine beauté, et une nouvelle lecture intéressante de la pièce. Je pense que stylistiquement ce n'est pas si aberrant : la musique de Bach est plus " ouverte" et n'a pas la rectitude d'écriture d'un Couperin par exemple, Bach aimait beaucoup s'amuser et n'était pas puriste, alors pourquoi pas Madame Verlet?
While I don't have an issue with the tempo of the Aria, the rhythmic train-wreck is rather disconcerting.
well I guess, one can indeed play it like this but it sounds more like a rushed gavotte or something...
The work is an Aria with 30 variations, not Sarabande with 30 variations. An air could be anywhere between 48 to 120 beats per minute as 3/4 can be quite variable as to Tempo. I prefer it slower than Ms Verlet interpretation, but faster than some of the dragging tempos.
@@Renshen1957 If I remember correctly, the Aria of GBV is often referred to as a Sarabande.
@@zacharybond23 Arnold Schering in his 1947 edition of the 1725 Anna Magdalena Notebook (in the USA published by Kalmus) made the comparison (the first I saw of it). I don't see a resemblance as the Aria is unlike J S Bach's many Sarabandes in his Suites or Partitas. J S Bach had an Aria variata in A minor, BWV 989. There's a few other Air and Variations that are incomplete, similar to the Chromatic Fugue paired with a Fantasy in C minor. J S Bach would have written Sarabande and Variations, just as Rameau had published.
Handel (Chaconne) as well Boerm, Buxtehude wrote an aria with 32 variations (not 30 as Bach had), Pachelbel, used similar first 8 measures bass line in (under various Suite names) works of G major, too.
@@Renshen1957 It seems as though Forkel also likened it to that of a Sarabande. I am not a music expert by any means, and am just mentioning what other more knowledgeable people have said on the Aria. There are quite a few sources that seem to see the Aria as a Sarabande style piece. The book titled as "Dance and the Music of J. S. Bach, Expanded Edition" calls it as a piece with the rhythm of a Sarabande.
I shall quote it for you: "The keyboard Aria which forms the basis for 30 subsequent variations in the Goldberg Variations (1741-42) is possibly the most poignant and lyrical of Bach's pieces in Sarabande rhythm, and, in fact, is in bipartite form and easily serves as a textbook model for the Sarabande. (Ex. XIV-37)" The book then goes to show measures 1-4 of the Aria.
@@zacharybond23 Forkel makes a point, that there is an accent on the 2nd beat, similar to a Sarabande, however, if one compares the Aria to J S Bach's Sarabande in G maj French Suite, the Sarabande as written emphasis isn't on the 2nd beat except in Soprano line. Arias, Allemandes, in fact almost all of the movements in a Suite are in Binary form, just as many of J S Bach's preludes uses this form, as he does for the Aria with variations in the Italian manor. 3/4 without tempo indication is a wild card signature in Tempo ordinario, however, compared to common time, 3/4 was quicker (except when a Dance title is present. Aria tempos (binary and Da Capo) are mentioned by Theorists as well.
J S Bach oversaw the publications of his works, and would have indicated Sarabande in the Title.
Which brings up J. N. Forkel. Born one year before J S Bach's death, he is commended for his work in his communication with W F Bach, and C P E Bach as to their father to have first hand information. Besides being a Chauvinistic writer, he isn't the most accurate in his accounts. Take his description of the event written 60 years after the occurence:
"...we have to thank the instigation of the former Russian ambassador to the electoral court of Saxony, Count Kaiserling, who often stopped in Leipzig and brought there with him the aforementioned Goldberg, in order to have him given musical instruction by Bach. The Count was often ill and had sleepless nights. At such times, Goldberg, who lived in his house, had to spend the night in an antechamber, so as to play for him during his insomnia. ... Once the Count mentioned in Bach's presence that he would like to have some clavier pieces for Goldberg, which should be of such a smooth and somewhat lively character that he might be a little cheered up by them in his sleepless nights. Bach thought himself best able to fulfill this wish by means of Variations, the writing of which he had until then considered an ungrateful task on account of the repeatedly similar harmonic foundation. But since at this time all his works were already models of art, such also these variations became under his hand. Yet he produced only a single work of this kind. Thereafter the Count always called them his variations. He never tired of them, and for a long time sleepless nights meant: 'Dear Goldberg, do play me one of my variations.' Bach was perhaps never so rewarded for one of his works as for this. The Count presented him with a golden goblet filled with 100 louis-d'or. Nevertheless, even had the gift been a thousand times larger, their artistic value would not yet have been paid for." Yes wonderfully florid, but is it accurate?
von Keyserling was appointed Ambassador of the Russian Empire at the court of August III in Dresden and Warsaw in 1734, approximately the time he discovered the prodigy Goldberg. (W Friedemann Bach attained his appointed in June of 1733 to the position of organist of the St. Sophia's Church, Dresden.). He kept this position until his death. (As the Russian ambassador to the imperial court in Vienna he was made an imperial count in 1744. ). In in 1734 Bach performed a secular cantata, a dramma per musica, BWV 215, in honour of Augustus, in the presence of the King and Queen, the first movement of which was later adapted into the B minor Mass Hosanna. Goldberg was 10 at the time of his discovery (1737) and 14 at time of the variations publication.
J S Bach made an appearance in Dresden after he was appointed Royal Polish and Electoral Saxon Court Composer, in 1736. (Source C P E Bach and J.Altnickol (Son in Law), Neckrolog (obituary) J S Bach.
J S Bach was politically savvy as concerns nobility (from hard earned experience); had von Keyserling commissioned the work, J S Bach, after the fashion of the "Brandenburg Concertos," and the Musical Offering would have prepared (with assistance) a dedication to the Count. It's absent. There's speculation that Goldberg took lessons from W F Bach. J S Bach performed at St. Sophia's church on the Silbermann Organ in 1725 and 1747. The latter date is 5 years after the publication of the Air with Variations, for a Harpsichord with 2 manuals, as it was referenced in 1753 (Nekrolog). The nickname doesn't appear in reference to the variations (or the handwritten manuscript copies of the 18th Century), until after Forkel's fictitious account. The 100 Louis d' Or are not mentioned the Nekrolog as the Marchand loss by default to J S Bach, and the gift of the King of 500 Thalers (reported stolen by a court official) make mention.
I played works by Johan Gottlieb Goldberg, I rate his Harpsichord Concertos as equal to both of the Maria Barbara' Bach's sons. He may or may not been a student of J S Bach in Leipzig, similarity of cantatas Goldberg composed to those by J S Bach, but that could be from the tutelage and study with W F Bach. Goldberg's presence in Leipzig can also be ascertained because of the presence of performance parts for one of his cantatas, Durch die herzliche Barmherzigkeit. To quote a biography, "Goldberg remained with Count Keyserlingk until around 1745, and disappears from the record until around 1750, when he was included in a concert described by W.F. Bach in a letter of 1767. In 1751 Goldberg was hired by Count Heinrich von Brühl, and he remained in the employ of Brühl for the rest of his short life. He died of tuberculosis at the age of 29 and was buried in Dresden on 15 April 1756.
the theme is too rushed and misses out the poetry
Bach wrote an Air and Variations, not a Sarabande and Variations, the late Blandine Verlet is playing the air in the 18th Century tempo.
@@Renshen1957 it's not the tempo that's the issue, it is a rhythmic trainwreck.
@@georgegyulatyan3263 Trainwreck is the false idea. Ornamented version would be the right evaluation.
@@georgegyulatyan3263 The original 18th century instrument was originally invented to be played in this style, with delicate ornamentation to be in place of unwanted silence. If Blandine Verlet were to perform the Variations on the harpsichord in the style of, say, Glenn Gould, then it would sound horrible, due to the harpsichord's lack of sustainability. The sustain and damper pedals were only introduced in the late 18th century, around the time that Mozart was composing his last piano concertos and sonatas. The sustain aspect was originally introduced as a knee pressure plate placed on the underside of the body of the keyboard, and was later reinvented in the mid-19th century as pedals. So, what I'm really trying to say is that Verlet is performing in a completely appropriate Baroque style, which shows Bach's brilliance perfectly.
@@RequiemAeternam01 you can improvise, as well as embellish without turning it into a rhythmic train wreck.
Yes, improvisation and ornamentation was a major part of the performance, this, however should not be done at the expense of rhythmic integrity.
Ornamentation isn’t the issue here, the excessive rubato is.
Ok, I am sorry, but the Aria was completely ridiculous. Someone sometime in the 60s figured out that Baroque didn't mean "rhythmically stiff" and that SOME rubato was OK. Indeed composers would even write the "wrong" number of notes in a measure to indicate this. Bach's C minor prelude from Well Tempered Klavier Book I is a good example of this. But that didn't mean that one should completely obliterate any feeling of rhythm in the manner that miss Verlet has done in this recording.
An aria (air) could be anywhere between 48 to 120 beats per minute as 3/4 can be quite variable as to Tempo. The Rubato which in existed in the Baroque was in the right hand against a strict tempo in the left. I have have heard recent (modern) interpretations of rubato applied to Baroque pieces, that was similar to if one could imagine, a drunken clock in which the battery not keeping accurate time, some times faster and then slower, and almost stopping, and then staggering onwards; in other words unlistenable. When Frederick the Great of Prussia commented on a piece "What Rhythm!" he just finished playing, his court harpsichordist who accompanied him, CPE Bach, retorted "Such Rhythms." It was a left handed compliment on the King's playing (an oblique reference that king wasn't keeping time).
The Theme is an aria. But the fact remains that it is an aria in the style of Sarabande, or at least a walking dance, a slow aria with cantabile style embellishments, like dozens and dozens of baroque arias in Italian style written by Bach, Handel, Scarlatti, Bononcini, Corelli, Platti, Albinoni, Bomporti etc. etc. / The style in which the bass line is written is perfectly recognizable as the basis for an Adagio and NOT for a Minuet or Passepied... / Bach lived in an era with shared writing styles, like every musician in every era, and indeed like today. Bach uses writing exactly relevantly and idiomatically, like his contemporaries.
He has no desire, or reason, to want to appear extravagant.