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Bach, Johann Sebastian: J.S.Bach, Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach
playing score
Bach himself opened the book with two of the large Partitas subsequently published in the first part of the 'Clavierübung', the rest of the contents was determined by Anna Magdalena. On the whole, these are short pieces of 'galanterie': minuets, polonaises, marches, compositions by the elder children and attempts by the younger ones, little pieces, which she copied out of the family guest book and which had been written there more or less as tokens of friendship by the many visitors in the Bach home.
The fingerings which have been added by Renate Kretschmar-Fischer represent a selection among many conceivable options. They have been chosen with a particular eye to the inspiration that this marvellous volume from Bach’s family circle can still impart to piano lessons today. In this sense, they also accommodate small hands searching for an ideal connection between physical dexterity, sensible voice-leading, and musical design.
Renate Kretschmar-Fischer studied in the master class of Conrad Hansen and was a scholarship holder at the Music Summer School in Bryanston (UK) where she worked with Arthur Schnabel, Monique Haas, Georges Enescu, Nadia Boulanger and Igor Stravinsky. For well over thirty years she taught as a professor at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold and was a jury member of numerous national and international competitions.
In the autumn of 1923, a young man produced the first music editions of his newly founded publishing house in his parents’ living room. He named his company Bärenreiter. In the spring of 1924 when Karl Vötterle came of age, he was able to register it with the German Publishers and Booksellers Association. At first, he mainly put out folk song collections, church as well as organ music including early music by Leonhard Lechner and Heinrich Schütz, at the time primarily known in specialist circles.
During the last months of the Second World War, the publishing house in Kassel was destroyed and once more a fresh beginning had to be made. With the start of the extensive German music encyclopaedia MGG – "Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart" – as well as numerous series of scholarly-critical complete editions such as the “New Mozart Edition” and the “New Bach Edition”, the visionary founder of the publisher created the basis for the further development of Bärenreiter. The musicological editions increasingly aroused interest abroad, and Bärenreiter found itself on an expansion course.
When Karl Votterle died in 1975, his daughter Barbara took over the helm, supported by her husband Leonhard Scheuch. Under their leadership, the catalogue grew significantly and the brand BÄRENREITER URTEXT was established. Finally, in 2003, their son Clemens Scheuch joined the publisher which today he is managing together with his parents. Thus Bärenreiter has remained a family business to this day and has become a company of international standing in the world of classical music.
