Anna Magdalena Bach
Encyclopedia
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
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Biography
She was born at ZeitzZeitz
Zeitz is a town in the Burgenlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the river Weiße Elster, in the middle of the triangle of the federal states Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and Saxony.-History:...
, in the Electorate of Saxony
Electorate of Saxony
The Electorate of Saxony , sometimes referred to as Upper Saxony, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire. It was established when Emperor Charles IV raised the Ascanian duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg to the status of an Electorate by the Golden Bull of 1356...
, to a musical family. Her father, Johann Caspar Wilcke, was a trumpet player, and her mother, Margaretha Elisabeth Liebe, was the daughter of an organist. While little is known about her early musical education, she was employed as a singer by 1721, and likely had already known Bach for some time.
Johann S. Bach married Anna December 3, 1721, seventeen months after his first wife Maria Barbara Bach
Maria Barbara Bach
Maria Barbara Bach was the first wife of composer Johann Sebastian Bach. She was also his second cousin, and the daughter of Johann Michael Bach.-Personal life:...
had died. Together they had thirteen children during the period between 1723 and 1742, seven of whom died at a young age:
- Christiana Sophia Henrietta (* 1723; † 1726)
- Gottfried HeinrichGottfried Heinrich BachGottfried Heinrich Bach was the firstborn son of Johann Sebastian Bach by his second wife Anna Magdalena Wilcke....
(* 1724; † 1763) - Christian Gottlieb (* 1725; † 1728)
- Elisabeth Juliana Friederica, called "Liesgen" (* 1726; † 1781)
- Ernestus Andreas (* 1727; † 1727)
- Regina Johanna (* 1728; † 1733)
- Christiana Benedicta (* 1729; † 1730)
- Christiana Dorothea (* 1731; † 1732)
- Johann Christoph FriedrichJohann Christoph Friedrich BachJohann Christoph Friedrich Bach , the ninth son of Johann Sebastian Bach, sometimes referred to as the "Bückeburg Bach"...
, the 'Bückeburg' Bach (* 1732; † 1795) - Johann August Abraham (* 1733; † 1733)
- Johann ChristianJohann Christian BachJohann Christian Bach was a composer of the Classical era, the eleventh and youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach. He is sometimes referred to as 'the London Bach' or 'the English Bach', due to his time spent living in the British capital...
, the 'London' Bach (* 1735; † 1782) - Johanna Carolina (* 1737; † 1781)
- Regina Susanna (* 1742; † 1809)
Their marriage was a happy one to which their common interest in music contributed. Johann Sebastian wrote a number of compositions dedicated to her, most notably the two Notenbüchlein für Anna Magdalena Bach
Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach
The title Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach refers to either of two manuscript notebooks that the German Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach presented to his second wife Anna Magdalena...
. She regularly helped him transcribe his music.
During the Bach family's time in Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
Anna Magdalena organized regular musical evenings featuring the whole family playing and singing together with visiting friends. The Bach house became a musical centrum in Leipzig.
After Bach's death in 1750, his sons came into conflict and moved on their separate ways. This left Anna Magdalena living alone with her two youngest daughters and her stepdaughter from her husband's first marriage. While they remained loyal to her, nobody else in the family helped economically. Anna Magdalena became increasingly dependent upon charity and handouts from the city council. She died on 27 February 1760. She was buried in an unmarked pauper's grave at Leipzig's Johanniskirche (St. John's Church). The church was destroyed by Allied bombing during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
A possible composer
Charles Darwin University
Charles Darwin University is an Australian public university with about 20,000 students in 2007.The University offers a wide range of Higher Education degrees and Vocational Education and Training courses with flexible study options, including part-time, external and online.CDU has campuses in the...
in Darwin, Australia, claims that she wrote the famed six cello suites
Cello Suites (Bach)
The Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello by Johann Sebastian Bach are some of the most performed and recognizable solo compositions ever written for cello...
(BWV 1007–1012) and was involved with the composition of the aria from the Goldberg Variations
Goldberg Variations
The Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, is a work for harpsichord by Johann Sebastian Bach, consisting of an aria and a set of 30 variations. First published in 1741, the work is considered to be one of the most important examples of variation form...
(BWV 988), a claim which is dismissed more recently by Yo Tomita.
Biographical sources
- Geiringer, Karl (1958) Die Musikerfamilie Bach: Leben und Wirken in drei Jahrhunderten. Unter Mitarbeit von Irene Geiringer. München. Beck. ISBN 3406069851
Her fictive autobiography "The Little Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach" was written in 1925 by the English author Esther Meynell. This sentimental narration of the family life of Bach is not based on any sources and is probably far from the personality of Anna Magdalena Bach.
A compilation of material about Anna Magdalena Bach has been published by Maria Hübner in 2005, "Anna Magdalena Bach. Ein Leben in Dokumenten und Bildern", completed by a biographical Essay of Hans-Joachim Schulze.
See also
- Notebook for Anna Magdalena BachNotebook for Anna Magdalena BachThe title Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach refers to either of two manuscript notebooks that the German Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach presented to his second wife Anna Magdalena...
- The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena BachThe Chronicle of Anna Magdalena BachThe Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach is a 1968 film by the French filmmaking duo of Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet. It was their first full-length feature film, and reportedly took a decade to finance. The film stars renowned harpsichordist Gustav Leonhardt as Johann Sebastian Bach and...
– a StraubJean-Marie StraubJean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet were a duo of filmmakers who made two dozen films between 1963 and 2006...
-Huillet film about Johann Sebastian and Anna Magdalena Bach