Generations of piano students have started with the same little pieces: the Minuet in G, the Musette, the Polonaises. They come from a family notebook kept in the Bach household three hundred years ago.
A gift for a wife
Anna Magdalena Wilcke was a gifted professional singer. She married Johann Sebastian Bach in 1721, after the death of his first wife, and became stepmother to his children and mother to many more. Bach gave her a music notebook in 1722, and a second, larger one in 1725.
What is inside
The 1725 notebook is a family album. It holds keyboard pieces by Bach, songs and arias, pieces copied by Anna Magdalena and by the children, and works by other composers the family liked. It was used for teaching, for practice and for music at home.
The famous Minuet in G is not by Bach
For two hundred years the Minuet in G major, BWV Anh. 114, was played as Bach's. In the 1970s scholars showed that it, and its companion Minuet in G minor, were written by the organist Christian Petzold. The Bach family simply liked them enough to copy them in.
Why these pieces are perfect for reading
They are short, they have two clear voices, and their patterns repeat. They are ideal sight-reading material for beginners and for adults returning to the piano. The minor-key pieces add sharps and naturals that change through the piece, and in iCanPiano Style those notes show their black keys directly.
- F sharp: right half black. Play the black key to the right of F.
- B flat: left half black. Play the black key to the left of B.
- B natural: no natural sign. A note that is all black or all white is played on a white key.
Frequently asked questions
Did Bach write the Minuet in G?
No. The famous Minuet in G major from the Anna Magdalena notebook was written by Christian Petzold. The family copied it into the notebook.
Who was Anna Magdalena Bach?
A professional singer and Johann Sebastian Bach's second wife. They married in 1721.