Anna Magdalena Bach

Anna Magdalena Bach-Wilcken (22 September, 1701– 22 February, 1760) was the second wife of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Practically nothing is known of Anna Magdalena's early years. She was born on September 22, 1701, at Zeitz. Her father, Johann Caspar Wilcke, was a court trumpeter who worked at Zeitz until about February 1718, when he moved to Weissenfels where he died at the end of November in 1731. Anna’s mother, Margaretha Elisabeth Liebe, who died in March of 1746, was the daughter of an organist. As a trumpeter’s daughter, Anna may well have met the Bachs socially. However, she was paid for singing, with her father, in the chapel at Zerbst on some occasion between Easter and midsummer of 1721. By September, at age 20, she was at Cöthen, well acquainted with Bach (age 36). Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen gave Bach permission to be married in his own lodgings.

On December 3, 1721 she married Bach, ten months after his first wife Maria Barbara Bach had passed away. Together they had thirteen children during the period of (1723-1742) of which seven died at a young age.

Their marriage was a happy one to which their common interest in music contrinbuted. Johan Sebastian wrote a number of compositions dedicated to her, most notably the two Notenbüchlein für Anna Magdalena Bach. She regularly helped him transcribe his music.

During the Bach family's time in Leipzig Anna Magdalena organized regular musical evenings featuring the whole family playing and singing together with visiting friends. The Bach house became a musical centrum in Leipzig.

After Bach's death in 1750, his sons came into conflict and moved on their separate ways. This left Anna Magdalena living alone with two of her stepdaughters. While they remained loyal to her, nobody else in the family helped economically. Anna Magdalena became increasingly dependant upon charity and handouts from the city council. She died on 22 February, 1760

References

• Geiringer, Karl. 1958. Die Musikerfamilie Bach: Leben und Wirken in drei Jahrhunderten. Unter Mitarbeit von Irene Geiringer. München. Beck.

• Koch-Kanz, Swantje & Luise F. Pusch. 1988."Die Töchter von Johann Sebastian Bach", in: Pusch, Luise F. Hg. 1988. Töchter berühmter Männer: Neun biographische Portraits. Frankfurt/M. Insel TB 979. S. 117-154.