Anna Magdelena Bach
Bach's best works are believed to have been composed after he met his second wife, Anna Magdalena. For a long time, many people just thought of her as Bach's muse. But what if she was more than that?
Anna Magdelena was a gifted soprano, and on top of being a mother of 13 children, she often assisted Bach in his duties as the Kantor of Leipzig by transcribing his compositions. Many of Bach's manuscripts actually exist only in Anna's hand, so it's entirely plausible that some of them are her compositions. And it is true–she was his muse! Bach dedicated a number of his pieces to her, most famously “The Little Notebook for Anna Magdelena Bach”. But why can’t she be both?
Don’t worry, I didn’t get sucked into some crazy reddit conspiracy rabbit hole, I actually learned about this theory in a music history class! In 2014, Professor Martin Jarvis released a documentary titled Written by Mrs Bach in which he theorized that Anna actually composed some of Bach's famous compositions—and he had the evidence to support it. The compositions in question were ‘Aria’ from the Goldberg Variations, the first Prelude from the Well Tempered Clavier, and some of the Cello Suites. He had forensics analysts, researchers, other historians–the whole works! But there are still some musicologists that believe this theory to be utter nonsense. How DARE we suggest that some of the greatest pieces of music to ever exist were written by a woman??? THE HORROR!!
In all seriousness though, it could be nonsense–there are valid arguments on both sides. All we can do is accept that we will never know the truth! But it’s always fun to speculate.
“All the music for which Bach is famous comes after he met Anna Magdelena. Either she was his inspiration, or she was involved.”