, also (ABA, old-Bachian archive), is a collection of 17th-century vocal music, most of which was written by members of the

Bach family The Bach family refers to several notable composers of the Baroque music, baroque and Classical period (music), classical periods of music, the best-known of whom was Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750). A family genealogy was drawn up by Johann ...

History

Johann Ambrosius Bach Johann Ambrosius Bach (22 February 1645 – ) was a German musician, father to Johann Sebastian Bach. Life Johann Ambrosius Bach was born in Erfurt, Germany, the son of musician Christoph Bach (1613–1661). He was the twin brother of Joha ...

, Johann Sebastian's father, supposedly started to collect compositions by his relatives. Johann Sebastian Bach's obituary starts with an overview of the composers whose works are contained in the .

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (8 March 1714 – 14 December 1788), also formerly spelled Karl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, and commonly abbreviated C. P. E. Bach, was a German Classical period musician and composer, the fifth child and sec ...

, Johann Sebastian's son and co-author of his obituary, retained the collection and gave it its name. After his death the largest part of the collection came, via , in the possession of the

Sing-Akademie zu Berlin The Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, also known as the Berliner Singakademie, is a musical (originally choral) society founded in Berlin in 1791 by Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch, harpsichordist to the court of Prussia, on the model of the 18th-century ...

. All nine motets of the Sing-Akademie's part of the ABA collection, including BWV 1164, at the time attributed to

Johann Christoph Bach Johann Christoph Bach (baptised – 31 March 1703) was a German composer and organist of the Baroque period. He was born at Arnstadt, the son of Heinrich Bach, Johann Sebastian Bach's first cousin once removed and the first cousin of J.S. ...

, were published in the early 1820s. The manuscripts of two compositions contained in the Sing-Akademie's part of the ABA collection were sold to the Royal Library in Berlin (later renamed as

Berlin State Library The Berlin State Library (german: Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin; officially abbreviated as ''SBB'', colloquially ''Stabi'') is a universal library in Berlin, Germany and a property of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. It is one of the larg ...

): thus BNB I/B/11 and BWV 1164 were no longer in the Sing-Akademie's archives by the end of the 19th century. In 1935

Max Schneider Maxwell George Schneider (born June 21, 1992), also known by his mononym MAX, is an American singer-songwriter, actor and model, signed to Arista and Sony RED. In 2018, MAX's single " Lights Down Low" went double platinum in the US, Platinum i ...

, recovering ABA manuscripts scattered in the Sing-Akademie's archive, published a selection of these compositions, an edition which was reprinted in 1966.Schneider 1935/1966. ABA numbers derive from this publication in two volumes. The original manuscripts of the Sing-Akademie's archive went lost during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, only to be rediscovered in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

in 1999, after which they were returned to the Sing-Akademie, which in turn deposited the recovered manuscripts in the Berlin State Library for conservation.Veit 2007.

Compositions

References

Sources

* * Axel Fischer and Matthias Kornemann (editors)
''The Archive of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin: Catalogue''.
De Gruyter, 2009. . *

(editor). ''Altbachisches Archiv: aus Johann Sebastian Bachs Sammlung von Werken seiner Vorfahren Johann, Heinrich, Georg Christoph, Johann Michael u. Johann Christoph Bach.'' (Das Erbe deutscher Musik, Series I). Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig 1935, reprint 1966. ** Vol. 1
''Motetten und Chorlieder''.
** Vol. 2
''Kantaten''.
* Patrice Veit
"''ENßLIN, Wolfram,'' Die Bach-Quellen der SingAkademie zu Berlin. Katalog"
recension in ''Revue de l'Institut français d'histoire en Allemagne'', 2007.

External links

at {{Authority control Vocal musical compositions Motets Cantatas 17th century in music