Anna Magdalena Bach encyclopedia topics

Biography

She was born at Zeitz, in Saxony, 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.

She married Bach on December 3, 1721, seventeen months after his first wife Maria Barbara Bach had died. Together they had thirteen children during the period between 1723 and 1742, seven of which died at a young age:

Christiana Sophia Henrietta (* 1723; † 1726)
Gottfried Heinrich (* 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 Friedrich, the 'Bückeburg' Bach (* 1732; † 1795)
Johann August Abraham (* 1733; † 1733)
Johann Christian, 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. She regularly helped him transcribe his music.

During the Bach family's time in Leipzig 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.

Biographical Sources

Her fictive Autobiography "The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach" was written in 1930 by the English author Esther Meynell. This sentimental narration of the family life of Bach isn't 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 Christoph Wolff.

A possible composer

Recent speculation suggests that Anna Magdalena Bach may have been the composer of several musical pieces attributed to her husband. Professor Martin Jarvis of Charles Darwin University School of Music, in Darwin, Australia, proposes that she wrote the famed six cello suites (BWV 1007–1012), and was involved with the composition of the aria from the Goldberg Variations (BWV 988).

Sources

Geiringer, Karl. 1958. Die Musikerfamilie Bach: Leben und Wirken in drei Jahrhunderten. Unter Mitarbeit von Irene Geiringer. München. Beck.
Koch-Kanz, Swantje & Luise F. Pusch. 1988."Die Töchter von Johann Sebastian Bach", in: Pusch, Luise F. Hg. 1988. Töchter berühmter Männer: Neun biographische Portraits. Frankfurt/M. Insel TB 979. S. 117-154.