It seems like a fairy tale, and perhaps it is. Legend has it that the composer J. S. Bach wrote 30 variations on an aria at the request of a Russian Count who suffered from persistent insomnia. The Count then had a young musician in his service, Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, play the variations to ease the burden of his sleepless nights. The pieces, composed by Bach and published in 1741, were henceforth said to bear the name of the performer: the Goldberg Variations. The result is a masterpiece, the performance of which also requires the hand of a master.
