Telegraph | News | Bach works were written by his second wife, claims academic

Telegraph | News | Bach works were written by his second wife, claims academic: "Bach works were written by his second wife, claims academic

Famous works attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach were not penned by the great composer but by his second wife, researchers believe.

A study by an academic who has spent more than 30 years looking at Bach's work claims that Anna Magdalena Bach, traditionally believed to be Bach's musical copyist, actually wrote some of his best-loved works, including his Six Cello Suites.

Martin Jarvis, a professor at Charles Darwin University School of Music in Darwin and the conductor of the city's symphony orchestra, said that 'a number of books would need to be rewritten' after presenting his findings to a Bach symposium last week.

The findings have been described as 'highly important' by Bach scholars and will be published in a doctorate, later this year.

Prof Jarvis, who is originally from Wales, used police forensic science techniques to scrutinise manuscripts he believed to be written by Anna Magdalena."