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 (1968) known in English as The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach, is a 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 excerpts from Johann Sebastian Bach's works, presented in chronological order and linked by a fictional journal written by his second wife, Anna Magdalena Bach. Each work is typically presented in a single, often immobile take, with the musicians performing in the locations where many of the works were premiered, dressed in period costumes.

[edit] Works Featured

Works excerpted in the film, in order of appearance, are:

Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, BWV 1050: Allegro 1 (First Movement), bars 147-227
Prelude 6 from the Little Clavier Book for Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, BWV 128
Minuet 2 of the Suite in D Minor from the Little Clavier Book for Anna Magdalena Bach, BWV 812
Sonata No. 2 in D Major for viola da gamba and obbligato harsichord, BWV 1028: Adagio
Trio-sonata No. 2 in C Minor for Organ, BWV 526: Largo
Magnificat in D Major, BWV 243: "Sicut locutus est" and Gloria
Partita in E Minor from the Little Clavier Book for Anna Magdalena Bach, BWV 830: "Tempo di gavotta"
Cantata BWV 205 ("Aeolus placated"): Bass recitative
Cantata BWV 198 (Funeral Ode for Queen Christiane Eberhardine)
Cantata BWV 244a ("mourning music")
St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244, opening chorus
Cantata BWV 42 ("Then the same day at evening"): introductory sinfonia (Da capo: bars 1-53) and recitative for tenor
Prelude in B Minor for Organ, BWV 544
Mass in B Minor, BWV 232; 1st Kyrie Eleison
Cantata BWV 215: opening chorus, bars 1-181
Ascension Oratorio, BWV 11: final chorale, 2nd part
Conventional Sunday motet (11th after Trinity) by Leo Leonius from the Florilegium Portense
Clavier-Uebung, BWV 671: Organ-chorale from the 3rd part ("Kyrie, God Holy Spirit")
Italian Concerto, BWV 971: Andante
Cantata BWV 140 ("Awake, the voice calls to us"): 1st duet, bars 1-36
Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Variation 25
Cantata BWV 82 ("I am content"), last recitative
Musical Offering, BWV 1079: Ricercar a 6, harpsichord, bars 1-139
The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080: Contrapunctus XIX, bars 193-239 (harpsichord), last part
Chorale for Organ, BWB 668 ("Before thy throne, I tread"), bars 1-11