21 March, Johann Sebastian Bach’s birthday, is also an opportunity to remember Anna Magdalena Bach, his second wife. Recent research has shed new light on her early career as a singer as well as on her essential role as a copyist within the Bach household. Admired for her musical talents, she was known in Leipzig as “the woman Kapellmeister”, a title reflecting the admiration she inspired among her contemporaries. 
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Anna Magdalena Bach? Today, this name is primarily known—if at all—thanks to the Little Notebooks for Anna Magdalena Bach. Music lovers with a bit more knowledge might be aware that she was the wife of the famous Johann Sebastian Bach. But she was much more than that! Only recently have Bach studies begun to take an interest in this figure, arguably the most important person in the composer’s life. An overview of some recent studies.
The Little Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach: A Well-Written Fiction
The Little Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach is the title of a book by English writer Esther Meynell, published in 1930. While it remains an enjoyable read today, most of its content is joyfully and freely fabricated. However, one must acknowledge that at the time, there were very few musicological sources available—after all, for the scholars of that era (mostly male), Bach’s wife was of little interest.
It wasn’t until 2005 that the first scholarly book dedicated to Anna Magdalena Bach was published, written by a Bach specialist (and a woman!), Maria Hübner of the Bach-Archiv in Leipzig. Titled Anna Magdalena Bach: A Life in Documents and Images, it was followed in 2021 by new findings from Hübner’s colleague Eberhard Spree in The Female Chapel Master Anna Magdalena Bach: A Portrait of Her Time.
On the Trail of the Real Anna Magdalena Bach
Maria Hübner undertook a true detective’s work for her book because, strictly speaking, we know very little about Anna Magdalena Bach. No portrait of her exists, and the few handwritten lines she left behind reveal little about her personality. The author had to spend several years meticulously combing through vast amounts of so-called secondary sources—documents, letter excerpts, and images—which, when pieced together, allow for a kind of “true” chronicle of Anna Magdalena.
An Independent Artist and an Ambitious Woman
The daughter of the court trumpeter of Weißenfels, Wilke (or Wülcken), Anna Magdalena had a remarkable career as a singer before marrying Johann Sebastian Bach. She performed at the courts of Weißenfels and Zeitz. “We know she was among the highest-paid musicians,” says Maria Hübner. “Later, in Köthen, she earned the third-highest salary after Bach and the Konzertmeister. In fact, she continued to sing at court even after her marriage.”
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