Anna Magdalena Bach

... uh, and, uh, you know, it's just, I mean, I'm, I'm now got into it, but my God, I kept thinking, "I need another hand to, to, to work." [laughs]

[laughs] Well, Nicole, uh, Anna Magdalena Bach was anything but boring.

I mean, h-

[laughs]

It was not long before Bach realized that if his children were to be brought up in the traditions of rectitude he had himself inherited, they could not remain without a mother's care, the more so as his many occupations left him little leisure to oversee a company of lively youngsters.

And so, on December 3, 1721, Bach took to himself a second wife, Anna Magdalena Wilken, the daughter of a court trumpeter of Weisenvelds.

A gentle, lovable soul, musical, devoted to her great husband, and mother of a fresh host of children, she was as ideal a helpmeet for Bach as her predecessor had been.

A week after his Kapellmeister's marriage, Prince Leopold took a wife in his turn, but the lady, the prince's cousin, quickly troubled the musical atmosphere of the curtain court.

Visit to Frederick the Great and Later Works Early in 1741, Bach's son Philip Emmanuel had become clavicinist to the new sovereign of Prussia, Frederick the Great.

Moved, it appears, by a paternal wish to see the young man comfortably settled, the father made a trip to Berlin in the summer of that year.

Details of the journey are few, and it was cut short by news that Anna Magdalena, in Leipzig, was seriously ill. Bach's famous visit to Berlin and Potsdam did not take place, however, till fully six years later.

One of its chief objects was to make the acquaintance of his daughter-in-law, whom Philip Emmanuel had married in 1744, and of his first grandchild.

Um, [clears throat] and of course also it was, um, often, uh, a mean to, to make money.

So if you could copy, um, and send, sell to other people, Anna Magdalena Bach did this, or also, um, Anna Carolina Philippina Bach, the daughter of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Um, and what is interesting about Georg Michael Telemann is, so you could say in the perspective, as you've, uh, phrased it, of his time, you just didn't care about the historical, um, source or, or...

But he, for a long period of time, wrote letters with Georg Pörchauer, and he sent him a lot of the, the sources he got from his grandfather.

So on the one hand, he was in, in touch with the people, um, who were at the, at the front of building this kind of historical understanding and collecting sources and, and, um, even sent sources to Pörchauer.

The blow seems to have struck Bach the more heavily because, engaged in worldly music-making as he now was, he lacked the spiritual consolation of churchly activities and the communion with his inner self which he enjoyed in the organ loft.

an opportunity for a visit to hamburg was provided by the sudden death of the organist at st jacob's church of that city along with a number of other noted players bach was invited to pass on the qualifications of new candidates for the post this gave him a chance to renew old ties and stimulate new interests adam rankin was still alive and in his presence as well as before a number of municipal authorities bach improvised astounding variations on the chorale by the waters of babylon one of rankin's specialties till the veteran conceded in amazement to his younger colleague i thought this art was dead but i see it still lives in you the hamburg journey was but an interlude however inspiring there was no possibility of an organ position in that town and another problem was now occupying him the question of his children's education friedemann had received his first clavier lessons from his father shortly before maria barbara's death the world has been the gainer through this instruction administered the youngster by such a formidable teacher with his own hands bach wrote out a klavierbuchlein for wilhelm on the first page are set down the various clefts more important for posterity is a transliteration of the ornaments or manieren showing precisely how they are to be executed then follow exercises in fingering hand positions and much else the little book is a valuable illustration of bach's own methods of discipline and pedagogy nor are these the only things for which generations of pianists have to thank the bach of the cton period it was for teaching purposes that he composed masterpieces like the two and three part inventions to furnish practical illustration of the advantages of the system of equal temperament he advocated for tuning he composed while still in leopold's service the first book of the well-tempered that miraculous series of twenty-four preludes and fugues in all major and minor keys which is the bible of pianists to this day the second book was written in leipsic many years later it was not long before bach realized that if his children were to be brought up in the traditions of rectitude he had himself inherited they could not remain without a mother's care the more so as his many occupations left him little leisure to oversee a company of lively youngsters and so on december three seventeen twenty one bach took to himself a second wife anna magdalena wilken the daughter of a court trumpeter of weisenfeld's a gentle lovable soul musical devoted to her great husband and mother of a fresh host of children she was as ideal a helpmeet for bach as her predecessor had been a week after his kapellmeister's marriage prince leopold took a wife in his turn but the lady the prince's cousin quickly troubled the musical atmosphere of the curtain court her tastes were for masquerades dances fireworks illuminations and other forms of tinselled show not for concerts of orchestral and chamber music bach called her an amuse a person of no culture her installation at kutten was the prelude to bach's departure as so often happened in his career however a more or less inopportune incident created a situation from which he might profit leipzig and the st john passion this particular incident was the death half a year after bach's second marriage of johann kuhnau who for more than twenty years had held the cantorship of st thomas school in leipzig whether or not the post seemed to bach himself as desirable as a kapellmeistership the sudden vacancy attracted a flock of candidates some of them men of distinction most preferable in the eyes of the leipzig civic council was georg philip telemann who in bach's day ranked higher in the esteem of many musicians than bach himself another was christoph graupner of darmstadt we need not pursue in detail the complicated negotiations and the extensive intrigue the choice of kuhnau's successor involved Telemann was offered the job, and things progressed so far that the authorities debated whether the address welcoming him should be in Latin or in German.

But Telemann, who already held a lucrative position in Hamburg, determined to find out which town would offer him the better inducement.

Hamburg increased his already considerable stipend, so in Hamburg he remained.

The Count, paradoxically enough, now had every reason to remain awake and enjoy the never-ending ingenuity and luxuriant fancy of these variations and the lively quodlibet toward the close, which recalls those boisterous melodies the Bach family of old used to improvise at its reunions.

It is pleasant to record that Kaiserling paid Bach liberally for his variations.

st matthew passion and b minor mass on good friday seventeen twenty nine came the turn of st thomas's church to produce the music appropriate to the day the result of this official duty was the passion according to st matthew for which christian friedrich henry who wrote under the name of picander and provided bach with innumerable librettos for all purposes compiled the text the composer himself chose and distributed the chorales which punctuate the score bach was still at work on it when his former patron prince leopold of goten died rather than prepare a special memorial piece he asked picander to adapt appropriate words to parts of the music in the st matthew and he performed them at curtin at his friend's obsequies it is hard for us to believe that the st matthew passion did not receive on that far-off april fifteenth seventeen twenty nine the tribute of wondering amazement which in the fulness of our hearts we bring it to-day yet we are told that the leipsic worshippers considered its overwhelming dramatic pages theatrical god help us exclaimed a scandalized old dame tis surely an opera comedy we know that judged by our standards the first performance of the work must have been inefficient whether it was much better done at its repetition in seventeen thirty six may be doubted be this as it may the st matthew passion passed into oblivion for nearly a hundred years the glory of its rediscovery and its reawakening an exact century after its birth belongs to felix mendelssohn who with its resuscitation at the singh academy in berlin performed a service that would have shed immortal lustre upon his name had he never done anything else the st matthew passion which is bach at his most tender intimate lacerating and compassionate stands like the b minor mass beethoven's ninth symphony and wagner's tristan as one of the epical feats of music a lonely and incomparable achievement of the human spirit bach is believed to have written a passion according to st mark but not a trace of it survives another according to st luke is extant but most certainly spurious it is hard to believe he could ever have surpassed the lyric glory of the st matthew for generations after its re-emergence musicians paid it everything from lip service to ecstatic tribute a complete full-length performance of it was however a rarity and not even mendelssohn had the courage to attempt it in our own time we have finally come to the ways of wisdom recognizing that the st matthew passion can produce its proper effect only when heard in its entirety with never a bar or a phrase omitted those who have heard it thus are unlikely ever again to listen willingly to a cut version if anything can be said to rival the grandeur of the st matthew passion it is the mass in b minor the triumphal hymn of the church militant this utterance of subduing and inscrutable majesty which transcends the world to bestride the universe was completed in seventeen thirty three and offered to augustus the strong as an insignificant example of my skill in musique augustus the strong being occupied at the moment with problems of state did not deign to notice bach's insignificant gesture the composer never heard a performance of this gigantic creation which soars to heights beyond human gaze and in its proportions and technical details is too vast to serve ordinary liturgical purposes yet here as so often elsewhere bach followed the example of his age and employed several numbers from this mass with greater or lesser alteration elsewhere even the triumphant osanna which expert criticism has pronounced a polonaise apparently a subtle compliment paid to augustus as king of poland and the ineffably touching agnus dei may be encountered again in several of bach's cantatas visit to frederick the great and later works early in seventeen forty one bach son philip emmanuel had become clavecinist to the new sovereign of prussia frederick the great moved it appears by a paternal wish to see the young man comfortably settled the father made a trip to berlin in the summer of that year details of the journey are few and it was cut short by news that anna magdalena in leipsic was seriously ill bach's famous visit to berlin and potsdam did not take place however till fully six years later one of its chief objects was to make the acquaintance of his daughter-in-law whom philip emanuel had married in seventeen forty four and of his first grandchild but the visit had more spectacular consequences frederick the great had learned about bach from his court pianist Whether or not the great cantor went to the palace of Saint-Suzy in Potsdam at the king's special command, he arrived there at a psychological moment on May 7, 1747, just as Frederick was about to begin one of his regular evening concerts, at which, surrounded by his picked musicians, he loved to exhibit his own considerable virtuosity on the flute.

gentlemen old bach is here the monarch exclaimed and calling off the concert received his guest with cordiality he immediately had bach examine the new silbermann claviers with hammer action newly installed in the palace and invited him to show his skill After putting each of the instruments to a test, Bach amazed Frederick and his court by improvising a superb six-part fugue on a subject submitted him by the king himself.