, also (ABA, old-Bachian archive), is a collection of 17th-century vocal music, most of which was written by members of the Bach family.
History Johann Ambrosius Bach, 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, 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. All nine motets of the Sing-Akademie's part of the ABA collection, including BWV 1164, at the time attributed to Johann Christoph Bach, 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): 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, 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, only to be rediscovered in Ukraine 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.Fischer/Kornemann 2009.Veit 2007.
Compositions + Altbachisches Archiv ABA BNB Composer Composition Genre Scoring BD I, 1 I/An/11 Johannes Bach motet (aria) SSAT+ATTB Bc I, 2 I/B/43 Johannes Bach motet SSATTB+ATB I, 3 I/An/12 Johannes Bach motet (aria) SATB I, 4 — Johann Michael Bach? motet SATT Bc I, 5 I/B/39 Johann Michael Bach motet SATTB Cnt 3Tbn Bc I, 6 I/B/40 Johann Michael Bach Geistliches Konzert (funeral motet, ) SATTB I, 7 I/B/41 Johann Michael Bach SATTB Bc I, 8 — Johann Michael Bach motet SSATTB Bc I, 9 I/B/42 Johann Michael Bach motet SATB+SATB Bc I, 10 — Johann Michael Bach motet SATB+ATTB Bc I, 11 — Johann Michael Bach motet SATB+SATB Bc I, 12 — Johann Michael Bach Herr, du lässest mich erfahren motet SATB+ATTB Bc I, 13 — Johann Michael Bach Dem Menschen ist gesetzt einmal zu sterben motet SATB+ATTB Bc I, 14 — Johann Michael Bach Herr, ich warte auf dein Heil motet SATB+SATB Bc I, 15 I/An/10 Adam Drese (not Heinrich Bach) Nun ist alles überwunden motet (aria) SATB I, 16 I/B/12 Johann Christoph Bach Es ist nun aus mit meinem Leben motet (aria) SATB Bc I, 17 I/B/16 Johann Christoph Bach motet SATB Bc I, 18 — Johann Christoph Bach motet SSATB Bc I, 19 — Johann Christoph Bach motet SSATB Bc I, 20 I/B/10 Johann Christoph Bach motet (funeral, 1675) SATTB Bc II, 1 — Heinrich Bach Ich danke dir, Gott church cantata (Trinity XVII) SSATB+SSATB 2Vl 2Va Bc II, 2 I/B/3 Georg Christoph Bach Siehe, wie fein und lieblich ist (after Ps. 133) church cantata / vocal concerto (birthday), ) ttb Vl 3Vdg Vne Org II, 3 — Johann Michael Bach Es ist ein großer Gewinn church cantata (unknown occ.) s Vlp 3Vl Bc II, 4 I/B/37 Johann Michael Bach church cantata (unknown occ.) s 5Str Org II, 5 I/B/38 Johann Michael Bach church cantata / Aria (unknown occ.) a 4Str Bc (Vne, Org) II, 6 — Johann Michael Bach church cantata (Reminiscere) SATTB 2Vl 2Va Bc II, 7 — Johann Michael Bach Ach bleib bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ church cantata (unknown occ.) SATB 2Vl 3Va Bc II, 8 I/An/9 Johann Michael Bach(old attribution:Johann Christoph Bach) Die Furcht des Herren church cantata (new council) ssatbSATB 2Vl 2Va Bc II, 9 I/B/15 Johann Christoph Bach church cantata (wedding) satbSATB Vl 3Va Bc deest I/B/9 Johann Christoph Bach? church cantata / lamento (unknown occ.) a Vl 3Vdg Bc deest I/B/11 Johann Christoph Bach Geistliches Konzert satbbSATTB 4Tr Tmp Bss 2Vl 4Va Bc deest I/B/13 Johann Christoph Bach motet SATB+SATB Bc deest I/B/14 Johann Christoph Bach motet SATB+SATB Wws Strs Bc deest I/B/17 Johann Christoph Bach motet SATB+SATB Bc deest — Johann Sebastian Bach(Johann Christoph Bach?) (BWV 1164 = BWV Anh. 159) motet SATB+SATB deest — Johann Christoph Bach motet SATTB Bc
References
Sources
Axel Fischer and Matthias Kornemann (editors). The Archive of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin: Catalogue. De Gruyter, 2009. . Max Schneider (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 Das Alt-Baschische Archiv – Performed by Konrad Jünghanel & Cantus Cölln at