Local Pianist Earns State Recognition as an Essayist

The Texas Music Teachers’ Association (TMTA ) recently awarded Hannah Penny an Outstanding award for her research paper entitled How I Met Anna Magdalena.  Hannah is the daughter of Clifford and Lea Penny of Weatherford, and the granddaughter of Charles and Martha Cope, and of Dee and Rose Penny, also of Weatherford. Hannah studies piano with Dr. Holly Hughes at The Burch School of Music.  She is a fourth-grader at Curtis Elementary. 

Each year TMTA sponsors a “publication contest” with categories based on school grade, and offers two topics per category for research.  One student is picked as “winner” of each topic from each category, and then there are “outstanding” awards to those who also deserve recognition.  Hannah chose the topic Anna Magdalena Bach, the second wife of Johann Sebastian Bach and a musician in her own right, as well as the mother of thirteen of Bach’s children.  Hannah wrote from the perspective of one of J.S. Bach’s choir boys, and the story of Anna Magdalena Bach unfolds through “his” eyes. Hannah will receive her award in June at the annual convention of TMTA in San Antonio.  Her article will be published in the booklet TMTA Publication Contest Winners, which will be available for purchase at the convention, and it will also be published in the TMTA bi-annual magazine later this year.

How I Met Anna Magdalena

by Hannah Penny

I was on a street in Leipzig, and I bumped into an old lady, and she fell down.  She was walking down the cobblestone path, carrying a bag of her belongings, because she was very poor and had no place to go.  I was very ashamed for not looking where I was going, and so I quickly helped her up from the path. I said, “Are you okay?” She answered, “I am alright, and thank you for helping me up.”  I was a lad in Johann Sebastian Bach’s choir at the St. Thomas church when I was young, and I asked her who she was, because she looked familiar.  She said, “I am Anna Magdalena Bach.” I was surprised to see her on the streets with all of her belongings, and since Bach had died, I was worried.  I asked her if she had a place to live, and she said “No.”  I asked her if I could get her something to eat, and she looked glad and said, “Yes, I would like something to eat.”  So we went to my home, and I made her some hot soup and black bread with fresh butter and cheese.  She loved it and thanked me for inviting her to eat at my home.  “What brought you to this condition?” I asked, after she had eaten.  She began to tell me her story and this is what she said: 

In the year 1721, I met Johann Sebastian Bach when I was twenty-one years old.  My name at that time was Anna Magdalena Wülken. He was already thirty-six. His first wife had died, and he was very sad.  He was looking for another wife, because he had seven children who needed a mother.  He went off in search of a new mate who could take care of the family.  He picked me.  I felt very important to be part of the Bach family.

I raised Johann Sebastian’s seven children and had thirteen of my own.  Only ten lived to be adults, and of the ten, four became famous composers like their father.  I taught the children how to play the keyboard and to sing.  I helped my husband copy his work, and because I helped him so long, my handwriting became just the same as his.  I also assisted in copying Handel’s solo sonatas for violin and violoncello. I was so good at copying music that I became a professional copyist.  I taught Wilhelm Friedemann at age fourteen to copy, too.

I didn’t sing professionally because I wasn’t allowed to sing in public since I was a woman. But I sang for my family.  One time my husband commented on my singing.  He said, “I can assure you that I can already form a concert, both vocal and instrumental, of my own family, particularly as my present wife sings very clear soprano and my eldest daughter joins in bravely.”  I was better as a singer than as a keyboard player, so in 1722 my husband made a notebook of easy pieces to play. Three years later, he thought I was better, so he made a second book called Notenbüchlein für Anna Magdalena Bach.

We had a very good life for twenty-eight years.  Then Johann Sebastian died.  I had a very small pension and the cost of living was too high.  I lost the house, so I packed all of my belongings and started living on the streets.  I have nowhere to go. 

Now that I heard her story, I felt very badly for her.  So I asked her if she wanted to stay at my house.  She replied, “Yes.  I would love to stay in your home.”   She would teach me to sing better than I did as a choirboy.  I was thrilled!

Bibliography

Bach, Johann Sebastian. Notenbüchlein für Anna Magdalena Bach. Munich: G. Henle.

Barber, David W. Bach, Beethoven and the Boys: Music History As It Ought To Be Taught. Kingston: Sound and Vision, 1986.

David, Hans T. and Arthur Mendel.  The Bach Reader. (revised edition) Toronto: George         J. McLeod, 1972

 Krull, Kathleen. Lives of the Musicians: Good Times, Bad Times (And what the       Neighbors Thought).  San Diego: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1993

 Schweitzer, Albert. J.S. Bach, Vol. I. trans. Ernest Newman. New York: Dover, 1966