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Concept
Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach
Summary
The title Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach (Notenbüchlein für Anna Magdalena Bach) refers to either of two manuscript notebooks that the German Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach presented to his second wife, Anna Magdalena. Keyboard music (minuets, rondeaux, polonaises, chorales, sonatas, preludes, musettes, marches, gavottes) makes up most of both notebooks, and a few pieces for voice (songs, and arias) are included.
The Notebooks provide a glimpse into the domestic music of the 18th century and the musical tastes of the Bach family.
The two notebooks are known by their title page dates of 1722 and 1725. The title "Anna Magdalena Notebook" is commonly used to refer to the latter. The primary difference between the two collections is that the 1722 notebook contains works only by Johann Sebastian Bach (including most of the French Suites), while the 1725 notebook is a compilation of music by both Bach and other composers of the era.
This notebook contains 25 unbound sheets (including two blank pages), which is estimated to be approximately a third of the original size. It is not known what happened to the other pages. The back and the corners are decorated with brown leather; greenish paper is used for the cover. The title page is inscribed Clavier-Büchlein vor Anna Magdalena Bachin ANNO 1722 in Anna Magdalena's hand (using the feminine version of her last name). For a reason so far unknown to researchers, Johann Sebastian wrote the titles of three books by theologian August Pfeiffer (died 1698) in the lower right corner of the title page:
Ante Calvinismus is a shortened and misspelled title of Anti-Calvinismus, oder Unterredungen von der Reformierten Religion (Anti-Calvinism, or Conversations about the reformed religion).
"Christen Schule item" refers to Pfeiffer's Evangelische Christen Schule ("Evangelical Christian School").
AntiMelancholicus refers to Anti-melancholicus, oder Melancholey-Vertreiber (Anti-melancholy, or [something or someone] to drive out the melancholy]).
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