Anna Magdalena as Composer
For Jointissue 2008 I presented two different works, one a site specific performance (Anna Magdalena as Composer) and the other a video installation incorporated with an object (The Aesthetics of a Secret).
For this performance I read the following body of text which was then followed by a live rendition of the Prelude for the Six Suites for Unaccompanied Solo Cello performed by Scott Halligan.
With this performance I hoped to frame this piece of music in a particular way and then allow for the audience to experience a classic with a new perspective.
video available upon request.
Anna Magdalena Wilcke was born September 22, 1701. 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.
On December 3, 1721, She married Johann Sebastian Bach. Their marriage was a happy one to which their common interest in music contributed. Johann Sebastian wrote a number of compositions dedicated to her. Though she was never recognized as anything more than an amateur musician she regularly helped him transcribe his music. She gave birth to thirteen children during the period between 1723 and 1742, seven of whom died at a young age:
After Bach's death in 1750, their sons came into conflict and moved on to 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 February 27, 1760 and was buried in an unmarked pauper's grave at St. John's Church in Leipzig. The church was later destroyed by Allied bombing in World War II.
Recently a professor at Charles Darwin University School of Music has made claims that Anna Magdalena Bach is the true composer of Bach’s six suites for unaccompanied solo cello, some of the greatest works ever written for solo cello. This information is highly contentious and has upset a skeptical musical world dedicated to the integrity of Bach’s genius.
I’m not a musical theorist, and I’m not a historian. I cannot and am not trying to prove or argue for or against this information. Rather, I’m interested in is the story of this amazing woman that is brought to light by these findings. I am interested in the aesthetics of a secret kept for almost 300 years.
My intentions here are for us to listen to the prelude of the six suites for solo cello. However, instead of listening to the work as written by the acclaimed genius of Bach, listen to them instead as written by the muted genius of Anna Magdalena. Listen to it as if told to you in secret by a woman bound by the confines of a patriarchal society. All great art has more than one story to tell. Let us listen to the one we weren’t supposed to hear.
For this performance I read the following body of text which was then followed by a live rendition of the Prelude for the Six Suites for Unaccompanied Solo Cello performed by Scott Halligan.
With this performance I hoped to frame this piece of music in a particular way and then allow for the audience to experience a classic with a new perspective.
video available upon request.
Anna Magdalena Wilcke was born September 22, 1701. 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.
On December 3, 1721, She married Johann Sebastian Bach. Their marriage was a happy one to which their common interest in music contributed. Johann Sebastian wrote a number of compositions dedicated to her. Though she was never recognized as anything more than an amateur musician she regularly helped him transcribe his music. She gave birth to thirteen children during the period between 1723 and 1742, seven of whom died at a young age:
After Bach's death in 1750, their sons came into conflict and moved on to 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 February 27, 1760 and was buried in an unmarked pauper's grave at St. John's Church in Leipzig. The church was later destroyed by Allied bombing in World War II.
Recently a professor at Charles Darwin University School of Music has made claims that Anna Magdalena Bach is the true composer of Bach’s six suites for unaccompanied solo cello, some of the greatest works ever written for solo cello. This information is highly contentious and has upset a skeptical musical world dedicated to the integrity of Bach’s genius.
I’m not a musical theorist, and I’m not a historian. I cannot and am not trying to prove or argue for or against this information. Rather, I’m interested in is the story of this amazing woman that is brought to light by these findings. I am interested in the aesthetics of a secret kept for almost 300 years.
My intentions here are for us to listen to the prelude of the six suites for solo cello. However, instead of listening to the work as written by the acclaimed genius of Bach, listen to them instead as written by the muted genius of Anna Magdalena. Listen to it as if told to you in secret by a woman bound by the confines of a patriarchal society. All great art has more than one story to tell. Let us listen to the one we weren’t supposed to hear.
