Anna Magdalena Bach
German soprano Anna Magdalena Bach was the second wife of Johann Sebastian Bach, copied many of his manuscripts, and is remembered through the notebooks of keyboard music he compiled for her. Anna Magdalena continued to sing professionally for a time. In 1723 the family moved to Leipzig, where Bach became cantor of St. Thomas Church. Bach compiled two notebooks of keyboard music for her, dated 1722 and 1725. She died in Leipzig on February 27, 1760.
EARLY LIFE
Anna Magdalena Wilcke was born on September 22, 1701, in Zeitz, in Saxony, the daughter of Johann Caspar Wilcke, a court trumpeter, and Margaretha Elisabeth Liebe. She grew up in a musical family, and she became a professional singer as a young woman. By 1721 she was employed as a soprano at the court of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen, where Johann Sebastian Bach was music director. Bach's first wife, Maria Barbara, had died the previous year, leaving him with young children. On December 3, 1721, Anna Magdalena married Bach, who was sixteen years her senior.
Anna Magdalena continued to sing professionally for a time. In 1723 the family moved to Leipzig, where Bach became cantor of St. Thomas Church. She raised Bach's children from his first marriage along with her own thirteen, of whom six survived to adulthood.
Bach compiled two notebooks of keyboard music for her, dated 1722 and 1725. She also copied many of her husband's works in her own hand, including his cello suites, making her an important source for his music.
After Bach's death in 1750, Anna Magdalena lived in reduced circumstances and relied partly on charity. She died in Leipzig on February 27, 1760.
CAREER
DEATH
German soprano Anna Magdalena Bach was the second wife of Johann Sebastian Bach, copied many of his manuscripts, and is remembered through the notebooks of keyboard music he compiled for her. In 1723 the family moved to Leipzig, where Bach became cantor of St. Thomas Church. After Bach's death in 1750, Anna Magdalena lived in reduced circumstances and relied partly on charity. Anna Magdalena continued to sing professionally for a time. She raised Bach's children from his first marriage along with her own thirteen, of whom six survived to adulthood. Bach compiled two notebooks of keyboard music for her, dated 1722 and 1725. How her life developed in the subsequent years, especially during the Seven Years' War, is not known. She died on 27 February 1760 and was buried on 29 February in St. John’s cemetery in Leipzig. The available biographical account does not describe a continuous final medical course. It gives no dependable sequence of treatment and last symptoms from which to reconstruct a more detailed bedside narrative.
POPULAR BIOGRAPHIES
Five dedicated biographies were not identified. These editorial selections include biographies where available, with personal writings, biographical reference and related studies clearly labelled.
1. Sex, Death, and Minuets: Anna Magdalena Bach and Her Musical Notebooks — David Yearsley. [Biographical and musical study] Find on Amazon
2. Anna Magdalena Bach: Ein Leben in Dokumenten und Bildern — Maria Hübner. [Documentary biography; German] Find on Amazon
3. Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach — Johann Sebastian Bach. [Primary musical notebook associated with her] Find on Amazon
4. Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven — John Eliot Gardiner. [Related biography of her husband] Find on Amazon
5. Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician — Christoph Wolff. [Related biography of her husband] Find on Amazon
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