The Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, is a work for harpsichord by Johann Sebastian Bach, consisting of an aria and a set of thirty variations.

First published in 1741, the work is considered to be one of the most important examples of variation form.

The Variations are named after Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, who may have been the first performer.

Bach writes many works for harpsichord, some of which may have been played on the clavichord.

Many of his keyboard works are anthologies that encompass whole theoretical systems in an encyclopedic fashion.