Who Was Anna Magdalena Bach?

Abstract

Who Was Anna Magdalena Bach? Andrew Talle (bio) Martin Jarvis. "Did Johann Sebastian Bach Write the Six Cello Suites?"( PhD diss ., Charles Darwin University, 2007). 430 pages. Martin Jarvis. Written by Mrs. Bach: The Amazing Discovery that Shocked the Musical World(Australia: ABC Books, 2011). 280 pages. Eberhard Spree. Die verwitwete Frau Capellmeisterin Bach: Studie über die Verteilung des Nachlasses von Johann Sebastian Bach(Altenburg: Kamprad Verlag, 2019). 308 pages. David Yearsley. Sex, Death, and Minuets: Anna Magdalena Bach and Her Musical Notebooks(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2019). 336 pages. Although Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) has been the subject of intensive study for centuries, we still know surprisingly little about his private life. The documents thus far unearthed are primarily official in nature: job applications, payment and procedural records, anodyne recommendations for students, title pages, and the like. The few surviving materials that offer a sense for his personality relate to disputes with colleagues or employers; we know almost nothing about his closest relationships. Only his compositions leave the vivid impression that he was a profoundly intelligent and sensitive human being, a close reader of texts, an endlessly resourceful, virtually magical conjurer of subtle emotions. We can only speculate about the rewards and challenges of living with someone manifestly obsessed with making music that far exceeded all contemporary expectations. Johann Sebastian's second wife, Anna Magdalena Bach (1701–1760), is a fascinating figure for all who would seek to know more about his inner world. For twenty-nine years she was his most intimate partner. Their professional lives were closely entwined and they endeavored to raise seventeen children together. The reality of their relationship is ultimately unknowable, but it is easy to imagine [End Page 139]that she possessed a wealth of knowledge about her husband's creative activities: not only when and where he composed his extraordinary music but how and why. Her experiences are of further interest for what they can teach us about those of other wives, mothers, and female musicians of the era. Unfortunately Anna Magdalena's life is even more poorly documented than that of her husband. The known facts are quickly rehearsed. 1Born Anna Magdalena Wilcke on 22 September 1701 in the town of Zeitz, she was the youngest of six siblings. Like Johann Sebastian, she came from a musical family: both grandfathers and at least one uncle were professional musicians, as was her father, who served as trumpeter to the court of Moritz Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Zeitz (1664–1718). Her only brother followed in their father's footsteps, becoming a court trumpeter himself; three of her four sisters would also marry court trumpeters. 2During her teenage years Anna Magdalena must have developed impressive musical skills of her own because at age nineteen she was paid an honorarium by the court of Johann August of Anhalt-Zerbst (1677–1742) for "singing a few times with the Hofkapelle." 3She is next documented in Cöthen in June of 1721 taking communion in the Lutheran church and in September serving as godmother to two babies born to court employees. In the baptismal records she is described as a "princely singer here" ( fürstliche Sängerin allhier) and "chamber musician" ( Cammer-Musicantin), suggesting that she was already on staff at this point, though no salary payments are documented until eight months later. 4At the first of these baptisms, the Kapellmeister—whose first wife had died just over a year earlier—served as godparent alongside her, a public sign that the two were engaged to be married. Anna [End Page 140]Magdalena Wilcke became Anna Magdalena Bach on 3 December 1721, assuming the role of stepmother to her husband's four children. Six months after the wedding she finally began receiving an official salary—200 Reichstalerper year—that made her the thirdhighest-paid of eighteen court musicians. 5 Despite this apparently favorable employment situation, Anna Magdalena and Johann Sebastian left Cöthen exactly one year later to move their growing family to Leipzig, where he would take up duties as cantor of the St. Thomas School and Municipal Music Director. Her only documented performances thereafter occurred on return trips to...