Chronik der Anna Magdalena Bach

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The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach
Region 1 DVD cover
Directed by	Jean-Marie Straub Danièle Huillet
Produced by	Gian Vittorio Baldi
Written by	Jean-Marie Straub Danièle Huillet
Starring	Gustav Leonhardt Christiane Lang
Music by	Johann Sebastian Bach
Cinematography	Giovanni Canfarelli Modica Saverio Diamante Ugo Piccone
Editing by	Danièle Huillet Jean-Marie Straub
Release date(s)	June, 1968 (Berlin International Film Festival premiere)
Running time	94 min.
Language	German
IMDb profile

Chronik der Anna Magdalena Bach, known in English as The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach, is a 1968 film by the French filmmaking duo of Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet; it was their first full-length feature film, and reportedly took a decade to finance. The film stars renowned harpsichordist Gustav Leonhardt as Johann Sebastian Bach, and is the first of several Straub-Huillet films to be based on works of classical music.

Though, as on all of their films, Straub and Huillet contributed to the film equally, Straub is the officially credited director. Despite its austere, rigorous style, it is considered to be Straub and Huillet's most "mainstream" film, and is the only one currently available on DVD in the United States.

[edit] Style and Content

Chronik der Anna Magdalena Bach consists of several key works by Johann Sebastian Bach, presented in chronological order and linked by a fictional journal written by his second wife, Anna Magdalena Bach. Each work is presented in its entirety in a single, often immobile take, with the musicians performing in the locations where many of the works were premiered, dressed in period costumes.