The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach
- Gustav Leonhardt: Johann Sebastian Bach
- Christiane Lang: Anna Magdalena Bach
- Paolo Carlini: Hölzel
- Ernst Castelli: Steger
- Hans -Peter Boye: Born
- Joachim Wolff: Rector
- Rainer Kirchner: Superintendent
- Eckart Bruntjen: Kittler
- Walter Peters: Krause
- Kathrien Leonhard: Catherina Dorothea Bach
- Katja Drewanz: Christine Sophie Henrietta Bach
- Bob van Asperen: Johann Elias Bach
- Andreas Pangritz: Wilhelm Friedemann Bach
- Bernd Weikl: singer
- Wolfgang Schöne: singer
- Karl -Heinz Lampe: singer
- Nikolaus Harnoncourt: Prince of Anhalt- Cöthen
- Hellmuth Costard: Rector Ernestine
Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach is a German - Italian feature film by French director Jean -Marie Straub from the year 1968. The script was written by the director together with his partner Danièle Huillet. It covers the most important stages in the life history of the composer Johann Sebastian Bach, as written by his second wife in the form of fictional diary sketches, is told in 1930 by the English author Esther Meynell.
Summary
The film consists almost entirely of recordings of soloists (vocals, piano, organ), orchestras and choirs that were recorded at historic locations and show people in period costumes. Cut between are images of original manuscripts and partituren, letters and other documents. Bach himself and his second wife appear in the picture, but they operate with little or not at all. A real action is therefore not visible. Developments and flow of time can be found only in the chronological order of the songs, from the detailed written or acoustic quotations from documents. The mostly spoken in the off quotes are written in the language, which made use Bach and his contemporaries.
Production Notes
The resulting within eight weeks from August to October 1967 film premiered on February 3, 1968 in Utrecht under the Cinemanifestale. The German premiere was held in Berlin (West) on 30 June 1968. In the Federal Republic of Germany, the film was effective March 14, 1969.
The music comes from the protagonists themselves and is interpreted by the instrumental ensemble Concentus Musicus Wien, conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt, the Schola Cantorum under the direction of August Wenzinger and the Hannover Boys Choir. The outdoor recordings, among Eutin (Schleswig -Holstein), Hamburg, Leipzig, Lübeck, Lüneburg, Nuremberg and Stade.
Reviews
"The life of Johann Sebastian Bach in an unorthodox presentation by Jean -Marie Straub. The film is neither traditional music biography yet a cultural film about Bach. He discovered rather in the Moving History of a busy work life and refers, not least through the structure and style, on its present meaning. A formal concept in the spiritual as in the unusual film. "
"Film about the work and the main stations of life of Johann Sebastian Bach. Straub's second film consists of mainly static and completely expressionless photographs that help illustrate one of Bach 's friends certainly interesting tape more than sufficient. "
Awards
- Predicate Especially Valuable ' Filmbewertungsstelle Wiesbaden
- Month Best Film of Protestant Film Guild ( April 1968 )
- IFF London 1968: Best Film of the Year
- IFF Prades: Grand Prix of Prades
- Bambi for the best German movie 1968