The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach
– Using letters Anna Magdalena Bach wrote to her husband, seminal composer Johann Sebastian, filmmaker..
Using letters Anna Magdalena Bach wrote to her husband, seminal composer Johann Sebastian, filmmakers Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet created one of the most precise, rewarding biopics ever put to screen. CHRONICLE OF ANNA MAGDALENA BACH's intense emotional pull can be understood by its status as a musical film in the most thorough sense: its performances – staged as extended sequences set within the very spaces once occupied by Bach himself, with trained performers both donning and playing items accurate to the period – are immense, bringing us closer to the sound than was ever thought possible. Immaculately restored on the occasion of its 50th anniversary, CHRONICLE OF ANNA MAGDALENA BACH invites viewers to experience a bygone age.
06 Nov 1968
German
Danièle Huillet, Jean-Marie Straub
Gustav Leonhardt, Christiane Lang, Paolo Carlini, Ernst Castelli
A chronicle of Johann Sebastian Bach's life, eschewing drama to focus almost entirely on his music. Narrated by his wife Anna in voiceover, it consists largely of static scenes of Bach conducting and/or playing his brilliant compositions.
1 win & 1 nomination.