«Chronik der 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 Christiane Lang as Anna Magdalena Bach. It is the first of several Straub-Huillet films to be based on works of classical music.
The fiim consists of excerpts from J. S. 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.
Works excerpted in the film, in order of appearance, are:
- Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 : Allegro 1 (First Movement)
- Prelude 6 in E Major from the Klavierbüchlein für W. F. Bach
- French Suite #1 in D Minor from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach
- Sonata No. 2 in D Major for viola da gamba and obbligato harsichord
- Trio-sonata No. 2 in C Minor for Organ : Largo
- Magnificat in D Major : Sicut locutus est; Gloria (first part)
- Partita #6 in E Minor from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach
- Cantata BWV 205 ("Aeolus placated"): Bass recitative ("Ja! Ja! Die Stunden sind nunmehro nah") and Aria ("Wie will ich lustig lachen")
- Cantata BWV 198 (Funeral Ode for Queen Christiane Eberhardine): Final chorus ("Doch, Königin! du stirbest nicht")
- Cantata BWV 244a (Funeral music for Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen): Aria, "Mit Freuden sei die Welt verlassen" (music lost, reconstructed from St Matthew Passion, BWV 244, "Aus Liebe will mein Heiland sterben")
- St Matthew Passion : Opening chorus ("Kommt, ihr Töchter, helft mir klagen")
- Cantata BWV 42: Sinfonia (Da capo: bars 1-53) and tenor recitative ("Am Abend aber desselbigen Sabbats")
- Prelude in B Minor for Organ, bars 1-17
- Mass in B Minor : Opening (start of the first Kyrie, bars 1-29)
- Cantata BWV 215 (for the coronation of August III): Opening chorus ("Preise dein Glücke, gesegnetes Sachsen"), bars 1-181
- Ascension Oratorio : 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 : Andante
- Cantata Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme ("Awake, the voice calls to us"): 1st duet, bars 1-36
- Goldberg Variations : Variation 25
- Cantata BWV 82 ("I am content"), last recitative
- Musical Offering : Ricercar a 6, harpsichord, bars 1-139
- The Art of Fugue : Contrapunctus XIX, bars 193-239 (harpsichord), last part
- Chorale for Organ ("Before thy throne, I tread"), bars 1-11
