Chronik der Anna Magdalena Bach (1968)

Directors:

Danièle Huillet
Jean-Marie Straub

Writers:

Anna Magdalena Bach (diary)
Danièle Huillet (adaptation) ...

Release Date:

6 November 1968 (France)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | History | Music

Plot:

A chronicle of Johann Sebastian Bach's life, eschewing drama to focus almost entirely on his music. Narrated by his wife Anna in voiceover...

Plot Keywords:

Bach | Woman Director | Orchestra | Husband Wife Relationship | Singer

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Gustav Leonhardt	...	Johann Sebastian Bach
Christiane Lang	...	Anna Magdalena Bach
Paolo Carlini	...	Hölzel
Ernst Castelli	...	Steger
Hans-Peter Boye	...	Born
Joachim Wolff	...	Rector
Rainer Kirchner	...	Superintendent
Eckart Bruntjen	...	Prefect Kittler
Walter Peters	...	Prefect Krause
Kathrien Leonhard	...	Catherina Dorothea Bach
Anja Fahrmann	...	Regine Susanna Bach
Katja Drewanz	...	Christine Sophie Henrietta Bach
Bob van Asperen	...	Johann Elias Bach
Andreas Pangritz	...	Wilhelm Friedemann Bach
Bernd Weikl	...	Singer in Cantata No. 205

Also Known As:

Cronaca di Anna Magdalena Bach (Italy)
The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach (USA)

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

West Germany | Italy

Language:

German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:6 (f) | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Eutin, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany

Company:

Franz Seitz Filmproduktion

Trivia:

Gustav Leonhardt portrays Bach in his only performance as an actor. He is a music scholar of International renown, specialized in the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, and a harpsichord virtuoso whose Bach recordings (both as harpsichord player and conductor) are the finest to be found in recording History.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Verteidigung der Zeit (2007) (TV)

Well, great music, at any rate.

Very stark, very drab, no real drama. Why not just make a documentary? This isn't exactly The Passion of Joan of Arc. The only reason for seeing Chronicles is to hear the performances. I love Bach's music and even I found it hard to sit through this misery of a film. The great Gustav Leonhardt plays (in two senses of the word) Bach. We don't get much of a sense of him as an actor, since he's given so little to do dramatically. Mostly, he gets to walk purposefully or angrily out of various rooms. Bach's life, of course, was not an Errol Flynn movie. It was indeed fairly drab and more than a little hard. This probably means that the life isn't a terrific candidate for a film. The music, of course, is another story. I recommend The Stations of Bach. Far more information, for one thing, and some insight into the music, which is, after all, why Bach interests us in the first place.