Chronik der Anna Magdalena Bach

“The starting point was the idea of trying to make a film in which music isn’t used as an accompaniment, but rather as an aesthetic material. One of the film’s draws is that we’ll show people making music, show people who really carry out work in front of the camera.” (JMS) Straub/Huillet also succeed in showing music as material, in rendering music making tangible, via time and space: uninterrupted musical performances lasting several minutes, played by “music workers” (professional musicians) on reconstructed instruments. The focus here is less on the authenticity of musical practice than making different levels of time visible and the significance of Bach’s music.