In 1721 a 20-year-old soprano employed at the princely court in Köthen married the court’s Kapellmeister, set to become the greatest composer of the age. As his second wife she married into a young family with four children, and a busy household filled with music. The music book that Johann Sebastian Bach presented to his new wife Anna Magdalena in 1722, and replaced more lavishly in 1725, treats us to a tantalizing glimpse inside this unique family, allowing us to sit beside Bach as a composer, teacher, husband and father. Over the years, these notebooks became a place for the family to share instructional exercises, favourite pieces – by Bach and other composers – to play or sing, early composition efforts from the children, and first versions of some of Bach’s more ambitious keyboard works.

Drawn from Christoph Wolff’s new and cutting-edge scholarly edition of the complete Anna Magdalena Notebooks, Edition
Peters is proud to present a new volume of shorter and easier pieces from the notebooks, perfect for practical use by students of all ages and their teachers.

• Urtext edition by pre-eminent Bach scholar Christoph Wolff, Harvard Professor and former Director of the Leipzig Bach Archive
• Represents the very latest in Bach scholarship, reflecting up-to-the-minute research on texts, authorship and copyists
• A selection of the most popular pieces from the two notebooks in a practical student edition
• Contains works for keyboard and vocal pieces, following the practice of musical education and performance in Bach’s home