Johann Sebastian Bach's obituary starts with an overview of the composers whose works are contained in the Altbachisches Archiv.
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 Georg Pölchau [de], 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.
[2] In 1935 Max Schneider, recovering ABA manuscripts scattered in the Sing-Akademie's archive,[3] published a selection of these compositions, an edition which was reprinted in 1966.