Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach

The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach
Region 1 DVD cover
Directed by	Jean-Marie Straub Danièle Huillet
Produced by	Gian Vittorio Baldi
Written by	Jean-Marie Straub Danièle Huillet
Starring	Gustav Leonhardt Christiane Lang
Music by	Johann Sebastian Bach
Cinematography	Giovanni Canfarelli Modica Saverio Diamante Ugo Piccone
Edited by	Danièle Huillet Jean-Marie Straub
Release date	June, 1968 (Berlin Film Festival premiere)
Running time	94 minutes
Country	West Germany
Language	German

The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach (German: Chronik der Anna Magdalena Bach) is a 1968 film by the French filmmaking duo of Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet. It was their first full-length feature film, and reportedly took a decade to finance. The film stars renowned harpsichordist Gustav Leonhardt as Johann Sebastian Bach and Christiane Lang as Anna Magdalena Bach. The orchestral music was performed by Concentus Musicus and conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt. It is the first of several Straub-Huillet films to be based on works of classical music. The film was entered into the 18th Berlin International Film Festival.

Though, as on all of their films, Straub and Huillet contributed to the film equally, Straub is the officially credited director. Despite its austere, rigorous style, it is considered to be Straub and Huillet's most "mainstream" film.

The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach consists of excerpts from Johann Sebastian Bach's works, presented in chronological order and linked by a fictional journal written by his second wife, Anna Magdalena Bach. Each work is typically presented in a single, often immobile take, with the musicians performing in the locations where many of the works were premiered, dressed in period costumes.

Works excerpted in the film, in order of appearance, are: