16. Johann Sebastian and Anna Magdalena Bach – a Working Couple: The Music Trade. Part III

Johann Sebastian Bach died on the 28th of July 1750. A physical cooperation with his wife Anna Magdalena Bach therefore came to an end. But in some way they remained a working couple, because she continued the trade in printed music in which she had already been involved during her husband’s lifetime. In those days this was not unusual. In Leipzig for example, about ten percent of the over two hundred tradespeople were women who continued their husbands’ businesses after their deaths. (Spree 2021, pages 122 & 152 ff.; see also “Johann Sebastian Bach and Anna Magdalena Bach – a Working Couple: the Music Trade. Parts I and II”) As far as Anna Magdalena Bach is concerned, there is a newspaper advertisement from 1751 announcing that the “Art of Fugue”, “composed by Joh. Seb. Bach” was to be published and that this work could be bought “in Leipzig from the widow Bach, in Halle from the Music Director Bach, in Berlin from the Royal Chamber Musician Bach and in Naumburg from the organist Altnicol”. (Dok. III, pages 8 f.) In advertisements in the newspapers of several towns between 1752 and 1759, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach announced that his pedagogical work “Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments” could be bought from the widowed Capellmeister Mrs. Anna Magdalena Bach in Leipzig. It is notable that no further information about her address is given, which indicates that she was so well known among prospective customers that an exact address was not necessary. What other works could she have offered? Unfortunately, no other newspaper advertisements are known, so conclusions must be drawn from other sources. In 1761 a printed “Catalogue of Musical Works …, which are not in print …, of which correct copies can be [bought] from Joh. Gottlob Immanuel Breitkopf, in Leipzig” appeared. This catalogue includes about fifty works by Johann Sebastian Bach, among them over thirty cantatas. (Dok. III, pages 159 ff.) A copy of the parts of a cantata cost 1 Taler and 7 Groschen. (Spree 2019, pages 86 ff.) This was considerably more than a week’s wages for a qualified miner working in the Electoral Saxon mines. Further copies of Johann Sebastian Bach’s works were offered in the catalogues of 1764, 1769, 1770 and 1780.

The daughter-in-law Johanna Maria Bach (1724 – 1795) also sold his works. After the death of her husband Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714 – 1788) she published a catalogue which included works by Johann Sebastian Bach among others, stating: “Whoever wishes to possess any of these works should contact the widowed Mrs. Capellmeister Bach, who will be sure to provide a correct and clean copy.” (NV CPEB 1790, page 66; see figure)

Figure: Catalogue of the musical legacy of the deceased Capellmeister Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Hamburg 1790, page 66 (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Mus. Db 312)

When Johanna Maria Bach died in 1795, her daughter Anna Carolina Philippina Bach (1747–1804) announced in a newspaper advertisement: “The trade in the music of my late father and grandfather will be continued with the greatest diligence by myself.” (CPEB-Dok, page 1293)

So, a successful publishing house assumed that copies of Johann Sebastian Bach’s works were in demand. His daughter-in-law and his granddaughter (whose godmother, incidentally, was her grandmother Anna Magdalena Bach) also offered his works. It is therefore hardly likely that his widow did not also market them. The compositions of her late husband must have been available to her to be able to make copies. This is contradicted by a statement by Philipp Spitta (1841–1894). He imparts: “Bach had not made a will. His legacy, after his elder sons had reduced it by the entire music collection, was valued by the court.” (Spitta 1880, page 761) This statement is probably due to the assumption that the widow would not have had any use for the music of her husband. However, it is worth looking more closely at the procedure for dividing a legacy. Johann Sebastian Bach would not have been able to make a will that gave any advantage to his widow. It would have been invalid, because the immature children were entitled to a share, and the committee of attorneys of the university ensured that they received it. Anna Magdalena received a third of the legacy, while the nine children, of whom several had their own income, were entitled to equal parts of the other two thirds. Anna Magdalena volunteered to make an inventory of the legacy and manage the inheritance of the immature children. Since with her, the five adult children and the official representatives of the four immature children, different interested parties were involved, the committee of attorneys deemed it sufficient that these consent to the inventory. It is obvious that the inventory does not include the entire estate that existed in the household during Johann Sebastian Bach’s lifetime. (Spree 2019, pages 52 ff.) Among other things, all the musical items are missing. There must have been specific agreements here, whereby it can be assumed that Anna Magdalena Bach did not relinquish the third share to which she was entitled. If she had been disadvantaged, she could have contested it. To protect her interests, she had the support of the lawyer Dr. Friedrich Heinrich Graff (1713–1777) as tutor. He had been connected with the family for a long time and was selected for this task by Anna Magdalena. But the will was not contested, and so we can assume that she inherited at least one third of the musical items from her husband as her share. The immature children were also entitled to a share of the musical scores. Since Anna Magdalena managed their inheritance, she also had access to them. She was not allowed to sell them, but when they were used to make copies, nothing was lost to the children. (All this does not call into question the results of research into the distribution of Bach’s works among the sons. But it should not be assumed that this happened immediately after his death because the widow had no use for the works.)

With a large stock of her husband’s compositions, the widow Anna Magdalena Bach was able to continue the trade in manuscript copies, as did later her daughter-in-law, her granddaughter and also the publisher Breitkopf. This is not in conflict with the fact that she received subsidies from the university and the city of Leipzig, which have been quoted as alms. On the contrary, these subsidies were paid when someone was no longer in a position to maintain their standard of living. This applied to Mrs. Capellmeisterin Anna Magdalena Bach, and so she was supported according to her status in the hierarchy of early modern society. But this is not proof of a life-threatening financial poverty. Similar payments are recorded for the widow of a merchant who employed servants. However, a requirement for such support was that the recipient contributed to their own income according to their own circumstances and abilities. Anna Magdalena Bach must have had paid work. She was active as a widow. She saw herself able to care for her two immature daughters Johanna Carolina (1737–1781) and Regina Susanna (1742–1763) as well as her mentally disabled grown-up son Gottfried Heinrich (1724–1763). (Spree 2021, pages 157 ff.) Just as Sabine Elisabeth Kuhnau (1671–1743), the widow of Bach's predecessor, left the official residence at St. Thomas School so that the Bach family could move in, Anna Magdalena also sought another home after her husband's death. A document shows that she lived at Neuer Kirchhof in 1752. To assume that she did not utilise the trade with manuscript copies of her husband’s works to provide for her family would be to question her economic competence. There are no hints that she was frail or that she lacked any such qualifications. She was 48 years old on the death of her husband. Unfortunately, we have no information on the extent of this trade. She must have actively continued it until shortly before her death in February 1760. Just a few months before her death she is listed by her stepson Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach in a Berlin newspaper as agent for his work “Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments” (Spree 2021, pages 260 f.)

Anna Magdalena Bach was active as a working partner of her husband in other areas - we will go into this in subsequent articles.

Translation: Alan Shepherd

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