by Barry Lenson
We wish to begin right now’s composer profile with a brief quiz. Prepared? Please put in your considering cap.
Query One: Which composer wrote the Water Music?
Query Two: Which composer wrote the Saint Matthew Ardour?
Query Three: Which composer wrote an oratorio referred to as Messiah?
Query 4: Which composer wrote greater than a dozen suites for harpsichord?
And The Reply Is . . .
The reply to all 4 of these questions is Georg Philipp Telemann, one of the prolific and achieved of all German baroque composers. Like his compatriots J.S. Bach (1685-1750) and Georg Frideric Handel (1685-1759), he wrote music for all events and in lots of genres. And like these two different musical giants, he wrote works that present all of the hallmarks of a superb musical creativeness, supreme craftsmanship, and the flexibility to jot down memorable melodies. He even wrote greater than 30 operas, virtually as many as Handel’s 42 (by most counts).
Why is Telemann typically an afterthought – the baroque composer we take into consideration solely after contemplating Bach, Handel, and Vivaldi? There is no such thing as a cause we are able to consider.
Let’s be taught extra about him.
Who Was Georg Philipp Telemann?
Born in Magdeburg, Georg Philipp Telemann was a prodigy who composed operas and keyboard music earlier than he was 12 years outdated. Regardless of his evident musical potential, his mother and father opposed his intentions to be a musician and insisted that he research legislation on the College of Leipzig.
Like Johann Sebastian Bach, Telemann earned his residing as a church musician and organist. And like Bach, Telemann composed a gentle string of cantatas to be carried out on Sundays within the many church buildings the place he was employed. He held church positions in Leipzig, Sorau, Eisenach and Frankfurt earlier than he took his closing and best church job in Hamburg, the place he grew to become the director of music at no fewer than 5 church buildings.
Completely happy in Music, Sad in Love
It’s stunning {that a} regular and productive German gentleman like Telemann had a tumultuous love life. His first spouse, Amalie, died in 1711, fewer than two years after their marriage. Just a few years later he married Maria Catharina, a compulsive gambler who left him in 1736 and left him the job of mopping up the immense money owed she had accrued.
However all that home drama didn’t hold Telemann from producing a gentle stream of magnificent music.
Notable Works of Telemann You Can Hearken to on Classical Archives*
Orchestral Works and Concertos. . .
Overture: La Musette, suite for strings and continuo in G-
Cantatas and Oratorios . . .
Messiah (oratorio)
Meine Seele erhebt den Herrn (cantata for soprano and orchestra)
Keyboard Works . . .
Concerto da chiesa in G for organ
Chamber Music . . .
Quartet in D- for Flute, Violin, Viola and Continuo
Operas . . .
Flavius Bertaridus, König der Longobarden
* Please be aware that with a view to hear, you have to be a member of Classical Archives. In case you are not but a member, we invite you to affix now. Free 14-day trial memberships at the moment are obtainable.
