All language subtitles for the-chronicle-of-anna-magdalena-bach.1968.BlurayRip.1080p.USURY. Eng

- He was chapel master,
director of the chamber music

at the court of Anhalt-Koethen.

My father was court
and field trumpeter

at Weissenfels, and my
brother was a trumpet

at Anhalt-Zerbst, where
I had sometimes sung

at discretion with the chapel.

And I was soon
engaged as a singer

to the prince at the
court of Anhalt-Koethen.

His wife had died a year
before, and from their marriage,

three sons and a
daughter were alive,

Catharina Dorothea,
Wilhelm Friedemann,

Carl Philipp Emanuel, and
Johann Gottfried Bernhard.

For Friedemann and
the father had started

a little clavier book in which,

after various practice pieces,

came further pieces
which were soon made

into two particular
works for the profit

of musical youth
desirous of learning.

He soon started a little
clavier book for me as well.

He had a gracious prince who
both loved and knew music,

with whom he also intended
to end his lifetime.

But it had to happen
that the serene highness

should marry a
princess from Bernburg,

and it would now take
on the appearance

as if his musical inclination
was becoming rather cool,

all the more as the new
Princess seemed to be an amusa.

So God disposed that he
should be called to Leipzig

as director of music and
cantor at the Thomas School,

although at first it didn't
seem at all proper to him

for a chapel master
to become a cantor.

Therefore, his
irresolution dragged

on for a quarter of a year.

Ever since his youth,
he had been moved

by a particularly strong desire

to hear as many good
organists as possible,

so that from Lunenburg,
when he was still at school,

he often went on
foot to Hamburg.

And he was, when
barely 18 years old,

called as organist of the
New Church in Arnstadt.

From there, he once
made, and indeed on foot,

a journey to Lubeck to
hear the famous organist

of that place, Mr.
Dietrich Buxtehude.

He was then called as
organist at the church

of St. Blasius in Muhlhausen,
and very soon as organist

to the court of Weimar, where
his gracious Lord's pleasure

at his playing had inflamed him

to try everything possible in
the art of handling the organ.

He knew also thoroughly
the construction of organs

and had once been invited
by the University of Leipzig

to examine the new large organ
of the St. Paul's Church.

But as cantor, he had
no duties as organist.

He was the most senior
teacher at the Thomas School,

after the rector
and the vice-rector.

And since this school provided
the music for four churches

in the town, as well as
for weddings and burials,

he had to apply all possible
care so that the boys

who were capable of singing
and could accomplish

something in music were
well-instructed in this.

To the New Church and
to St. Peter's Church

came the boys who
had nothing to sing

other than motets and chorales,

and to the two
principal churches,

St. Thomas and St.
Nicholas, those who had

to do with other concert music.

He had the supervision
of the organists

and of the town pipers
and the violinists

who had to work
here with the boys,

and he had to provide concert
music for the Divine Service

every Sunday, except
the last three Sundays

of Advent and the
Sundays of Lent.

Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost

were celebrated with concert
music for three days,

and for these great
feasts, the music performed

in the morning
service at one church

was performed again
in the afternoon

during Vespers at
the other church.

The same for New Year, the
Feast of Epiphany, Ascension,

Trinity, St. John's and
Michael, and the Reformation,

as well as for the
three feasts of Mary

and the renewal of
the town council.

There, too, he had to provide

the Passion music for
Vespers on Good Friday.

Also, the Kyrie and
Gloria and the Sanctus

were occasionally concerted,

and the Latin
Magnificat at Christmas.

Of our first three children,
death robbed us soon

of Christiana Sophia
Henrietta, the firstborn,

and Christian Gottlieb,
the second son.

I had a new little clavier book,

which Sebastian had started
for me with two new suites.

And for the Michaelmas
fair of the following year,

he had such a suite
engraved in copper

as the first partita
of a clavier practice.

It was the first composition
that he had printed.

He then published such a
partita every year, up to five,

which he had printed together
with a sixth as Opus I.

He was soon charged
by the students

with music for many extraordinary
university celebrations.

And a further few years
later, he received

the direction of the
Collegium Musicum,

which Mr. Telemann had
founded in Leipzig.

But when the student,
Mr. Von Kirchbach,

charged him with funeral music

for the deceased Queen
Christiane Eberhardine,

the organist of St.
Nicholas, Mr. Goerner,

who had the direction of
the New Divine Service

at the university church,
protested to the university,

and the university
would permit Sebastian

to perform his music
only as a pure favor.

A year later, the
Prince died in Koethen,

and as former court
singer, I helped make

the funeral music
there, composed

and performed by the
former chapel master.

And three weeks later,
he performed in Leipzig

his Passion music after
the evangelist Matthew

during Vespers on Good Friday

at St. Thomas for
the first time.

- He had then written
to a friend of his youth

who had meanwhile become
Imperial Russian Agent at Danzig.

- "Here, by God's
will, I am still settled.

"But since now, one,
I find this service

"by far not so considerable
as it was described to me,

"two, many accidental fees
of this station have gone,

"three, a very expensive place,

"and four, the
authorities strange

"and little devoted to
music, so that I have to live

"amid almost constant vexation,
envy, and persecution,

"and consequently, with
the Almighty's help,

"I shall have to seek
my fortune elsewhere.

"Should Your Honor know of
or find a suitable position

"in that region for an
old and faithful servant,

"then I beseech
you most obediently

"to put in a very gracious
recommendation for me.

"I should not fail
to devote myself

"to the best of my ability
to give satisfaction

"to this most gracious
intervention and intercession.

"My present position amounts
to about 700 thalers,

"and when there are somewhat
more corpses than ordinarily,

"the accidental fees
augment proportionally.

"But when the air is healthy,
then on the other hand,

"these diminish, as last
year, when there was

"a loss of more
than 100 thalers.

"from the ordinary
accidental fees from corpses.

"In Thuringia, I can go
further with 400 thalers

"than in this place with
as many hundreds again,

"on account of the excessively
high cost of living."

- He had many
friends in Dresden

and often went there
with Friedemann.

Friedemann was soon
called there as organist

at the church of St.
Sophia, where his father had

sometime before given
a concert on the organ.

He was also invited
to Kassel to examine

and to inaugurate in
a public gathering

the renovated organ
of the large church,

and took me with
him on this journey.

We had just lost our
one-and-a-half-year-old

Christiane Dorothea, and
soon death robbed us also

of our four-year-old
Regina Johanna,

and little Johann August Abraham,
two days after his birth.

That year, the Prince
had died at Dresden,

and Sebastian, with
the deepest devotion,

dedicated to the new
Elector a grand Mass,

consisting of Kyrie and Gloria.

- "For some
years and till now,

"I have had the
direction of the music

"of both principal
churches in Leipzig,

"but have with all faultlessly

"had to suffer one
offense or other,

"and also, from time
to time, a diminishing

"of the fees pertaining
to this function,

"all of which would
however quite disappear

"if Your Royal Highness
would render me

"the grace of conferring on me

"the title of Your
Highness' Court Chapel,

"and to this end, would
send to the proper place

"a royal order for the
publication of a decree.

"Such an extreme gracious granting
of my most humble prayer

"would pledge me to
infinite devotion,

"and I offer myself, in a
most indebted obedience,

"to show my untiring
diligence in composing

"church music as well
as for orchestra,

"at all times at Your Royal
Highness' most gracious desire

"and to dedicate my entire
strength to your service."

- And in the
following months,

he gave several Dramata
per musica and cantatas

in honor of the princely house.

And when the Prince with
his wife then blessed

the town of Leipzig with
their most august presence,

the students wanted, on the
day on which His Majesty

had, one year before,
been chosen King of Poland

and Grand Duke of
Lithuania, to show

their most humble devotion
through an evening of music.

At Christmas the
same year, he gave

a grand oratorio in six parts,

and a further oratorio for
the following Ascension.

- Then the rector let
it be known to all pupils that,

under punishment of
dismissal and castigation,

no one was to permit
himself either to sing

or to direct the habitual
motet in Krause's place.

So that in the afternoon sermon,

to Sebastian's greatest
despect and prostitution,

not one pupil, for
fear of the punishment,

would take it upon
himself to sing,

even less to direct the motet.

That week, Sebastian had the
supervision of the school.

- He looked
to the council

for very soon and
prompt help in vain.

He could not get rid of Krause.

But that year, the
King bestowed upon him,

through Count Keyserlingk,
the title of Court Composer.

Three days later, he
gave a grand concert

on the new organ of the
Church of Our Lady in Dresden,

in the presence of the
count and other excellencies

and many members of the
court chapel, artists,

and other persons, who heard
him with particular admiration.

And he was then able,
after Krause's stay

at the school had
come to an end,

since he had also written
in vain to the Consistory,

to beseech the King with
the most deep humility

to order the Council to support

and protect the
cantor in his right

to nominate the choir
prefects without interference,

and to order the Consistory
to demand an apology

from the rector for the
affront made to the cantor,

and then also, by
particular measure,

to charge the superintendent
to exhort the entire school,

so that all the schoolboys
should show the cantor

the appropriate
respect and obedience.

And the King called upon
the Consistory in writing

to act duly on the cantor's
grievances, and the Consistory

asked for a report
from the superintendent

and from the Council
within a fortnight.

- All his pupils
were afterwards able

to render service usefully
to God and the republic.

And he sought to
effect everything

to help promote the
welfare of his children.

Friedemann was called
from Dresden to Halle

as music director and organist
at the Church of Our Lady,

a post which his father
had once attained.

Emanuel lived for
some time as a student

in Frankfurt-on-the-Oder at the

same time he
informed the clavier.

And he soon became
chaplain, musician,

and accompanist to
the King of Prussia.

And Bernhard, when
barely 20 years old,

was called as organist at St.
Mary's Church in Muhlhausen.

But after Bernhard had been
not two years in Muhlhausen,

his father had to pay not
only for his table there,

but also a bill of
exchange, which had

presumably caused
his removal then,

and also to leave a few ducats

for the settlement
of some debts.

And after he had then helped him

to be promoted to Sangerhausen,

in the hope that the more
civilized manner of life

in Sangerhausen and
the genteel patrons

would equally stir the
misled son to other behavior,

the father had to learn yet
again, with the utmost dismay,

that Bernhard had once more
borrowed from here and there,

that he had not changed his
way of life in the slightest

but had even absented
himself without letting him

know the slightest part
of his whereabouts.

Since no admonition nor
even any loving care

and assistance would
suffice anymore,

the father had to bear
his cross in patience,

merely leaving the undutiful
son to the mercy of God,

not doubting it would
hear his sorrowful plea

and finally, according
to the Divine Will,

effect that he should
learn to acknowledge

how conversion is
to be attributed

solely and uniquely
to the Divine Good.

But Bernhard died
suddenly in Jena,

where he was matriculated
as a student of law

and lived with Mr.
Johann Nikolaus Bach,

eldest of all the
Bachs still living,

organist of the university
as well as the town church.

That year, Sebastian published

the third part of
the clavier practice,

consisting in diverse preludes

on the catechism and
other hymns for the organ.

The second part,
consisting in a concerto

after the Italian taste and
an overture after the French

meant for a clavicymbal
with two manuals,

he had had printed
four years earlier.

Our dear and good cousin
Mr. Johann Elias Bach,

well established
cantor at Schweinfurt,

lived with us
during those years.

He was matriculated at
the University of Leipzig

as a student of theology
and, at the same time,

received furtherance in
music from Sebastian.

And Sebastian had entrusted him

with the instruction of my
three sons, Gottfried Heinrich,

Johann Christoph Friedrich
and Johann Christian.

And our cousin
also had to prepare

them for the Lord's table.

For me, he had
written several times

to his dear mother and
sister that she should

send me a few plants
of yellow carnations

because I was a great
amateur of gardening.

And since Sebastian
once reported to me

that he had seen a linnet at
a cantor's house in Halle,

which, through the skilled
instruction of its teacher,

did particularly
well in singing,

our cousin had written to
Halle to beg this cantor

to let me have his singer
for a cheap payment.

And once, since I
suddenly felt very unwell

while Sebastian was in
Berlin visiting Emanuel,

and it was not known whether
the violent agitation

of the blood would give
rise to an insidious fever

or some other evil consequence,

our cousin had to write
to Sebastian several times

and disturb him in his
peace and contentment

so that he might
quicken his journey.

A short time after
his return, he had,

as a new clavier
practice, an aria

with 30 variations
for clavicymbal

with two manuals composed
by him on a saraband

from my little clavier
book, engraved in copper.

Count Keyserlingk,
who was Ambassador

to His Imperial Russian Majesty
at the court of Dresden,

had expressed to
Sebastian that he would

like to have a
few clavier pieces

for his harpsichordist,
who had to play something

for him during his
sleepless nights.

And since Sebastian had composed
these variations for this,

the count had made him a
present of a golden goblet,

which was filled with
a hundred Louis d'or.

- In the last
years, he performed

some of his earlier
church pieces again.

Emanuel now already
had a male heir,

who was born at about
the time when we,

alas, had the Prussian invasion.

Thereupon, Sebastian once
again made the journey

to Berlin, accompanied
by Friedemann,

and since His Majesty,
the King of Prussia,

had asked several
times why he didn't

come one day, he
went to Potsdam.

His Majesty himself
played him a theme

for a fugue, which he at
once, to His Majesty's

particular pleasure,
developed on the clavier.

On the following day,
before many listeners,

he performed to the general
applause on the organ

of the Church of
the Holy Spirit.

And in the evening, His
Majesty wanted to hear

a fugue with six
obligatory voices,

which he also
accomplished at once,

to the amazement of the King
and all musicians present.

Emanuel also showed him the
new opera house in Berlin

and the large dining hall in it.

And he found that the
architect had done here

a masterstroke, namely if
someone above in one corner

whispered a few words very
quietly towards the wall,

another standing
diagonally opposite

in the other corner
heard it quite clearly.

And otherwise in the middle
or in the remaining places,

not one of the other persons
heard the slightest sound.

He had soon noticed
in Potsdam that,

through want of
necessary preparation,

his performance
would not succeed

at the theme given to him
by His Majesty demanded.

And he had therefore
taken the decision

and at once made
bold to elaborate

this truly royal
theme more completely

and then to make it
known to the world.

And after his return,
he committed to paper

a three-part ricercare
and a six-part

and a trio for flute,
violin and clavier together,

with a few other little pieces
of art on the royal theme,

had these pieces
engraved in copper

and dedicated them to the
King as a musical offering.

He had now entered the
Society of Musical Sciences

founded in Leipzig
by his pupil, Mizler,

and also had engraved in
copper a few canonic variations

for the organ which
he had furnished

on his entry into this society.

- Papa?

Papa, Papa!

- The distance
between our two towns

did not allow us to pay
each other a personal visit,

else Sebastian wanted
to take the liberty

of officially inviting our
cousin from Schweinfurt

to the wedding of
our daughter Liessgen

to the new organist of
Naumburg, Mr. Altnikol,

which was to take
place in January.

But since the inconvenient
time of the year also would not

allow our cousin to be
seen personally among us,

Sebastian still
asked him to assist

the children in his absence
with a Christian wish.

Our three youngest, Regina
Susanna, Johanna Carolina,

and Johann Christian were
still staying at home together

with Sebastian's daughter,
Catharina Dorothea, unmarried,

and our eldest son, Gottfried
Heinrich, whose genius

also inclined towards music
but was not developed.

Our 18-year-old, Johann
Christoph Friedrich,

entered the Count of
Schaumburg-Lippe's chapel

at Buckeburg a few weeks
before Sebastian's death.

To the Mass, of which he had
dedicated to King August,

Sebastian had now
composed a grand credo.

He added an earlier Sanctus.

And also wrote a
Hosanna, Benedictus,

Agnus Dei, and Dona
nobis pacem to it.

He had also started
a new collection

of grand chorales for the organ,

and had been working for some
time on an Art of the Fugue,

through which is shown what can

possibly be made out of a theme.

But he could only prepare
one part for engraving,

and, at the end, a grand
fugue was interrupted

through the illness of his eyes.

He wanted to remove this eye
illness through an operation,

but it had to be
repeated, and failed,

so that for four
months thereafter,

he was almost always ill
and could not use his sight.

In his blindness, he dictated
a chorale for the organ

on the melody, When We
Are in Greatest Need,

and then had it written down
with a few more corrections

under the title, Before
Thy Throne I Tread,

which is sung to
the same melody.

And suddenly his eyes
seemed to get better,

so that one day, in the morning,

he could see quite well again,

and could also support
the light again.

Only a few hours
later, he was overtaken

by a high fever, in which,
despite all possible care

of two of the most skilled
doctors in Leipzig,

he died one evening
softly and blessedly.