Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach
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The Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach is either of two manuscript notebooks (in the hand of Johann Sebastian Bach and others), consisting of short pieces for the keyboard (and voice for some), including minuets, rondeaus, polonaises, chorales, sonatas, preludes, musettes, marches, gavottes, songs and arias, which Bach presented to his second wife Anna Magdalena in notebook (album) form.
Most of the compositions are both short and simple, and as a result they are frequently used in beginning piano literature and as part of children's piano recitals.
Missing image Anna-magdalena-bach-noteboo.jpg Title-page of the first (1722) notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach | Missing image Gavotte.notebook.for.a.m.b.jpg Gavotte from the first notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach | Missing image A-M-Bach-notebook-1725.jpg Cover of the second (1725) notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach |
Authorship
Not all the works contained in the Notebooks are generally attributed to Bach: for the other pieces either Bach indicated the composer, or the composer was later established (the Notebooks contained several early compositions by Bach's son Carl Philipp Emanuel), or the composer is still unsure.
Some other notable composers whose works are included in the Notebooks:
- François Couperin (Rondeau "Les Bergeries")
- Christian Petzold (two Menuets)
- Johann Adolph Hasse (a Polonaise)
- Georg Böhm (Menuet, fait par Mons. Böhm, not in the BWV catalogue)
- ...
The "compositions generally not attributed to Bach" are contained in the "Anhang" (Appendix) of the BWV catalogue, Nos. 113 to 132 and No. 183.
- See Mutopia scores of some of these pieces (http://www.mutopiaproject.org/cgibin/make-table.cgi?preview=1&searchingfor=BWV+Anh.&Composer=&Instrument=&Style=&timelength=1&timeunit=week&lilyversion=)
The six so-called French Suites BWV 812-817 are found in the first Notebook manuscript, without Bach's authorship being contested for that collection of pieces. This goes as well for the Präludium BWV 846 contained in the Notebooks.
Songs and arias
The songs and arias (most of them in the second album), are all attributed to Bach, except the most famous of these, the Bist du bei mir BWV 508, which is attributed to Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel.
- The text of "Bist du bei mir", including an English translation, can be found here: http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=382
- See also the Mutopia version(s) of the "Bist du bei mir" melody (http://www.mutopiaproject.org/cgibin/make-table.cgi?preview=1&searchingfor=Bist&Composer=BachJS&Instrument=&Style=&timelength=1&timeunit=week&lilyversion=)
Most of the songs, arias and chorales of the notebook are listed in List of songs and arias of Johann Sebastian Bach, BWV 508-518.
The remaining are:
- BWV 82 - Rezitativ und Arie: Ich habe genug
- BWV 299 - Choral: Dir, Dir Jehova will ich singen
- BWV 691 - Choral: Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten