Georg Philipp Telemann

Georg Philipp Telemann - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Philipp_Telemann
Georg Philipp Telemann

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Georg Philipp Telemann (14 March 1681 25 June 1767)

(German pronunciation: [telman]) was a German Baroque
composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely
self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family's
wishes. After studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and
Hildesheim, Telemann entered the University of Leipzig to
study law, but eventually settled on a career in music. He held
important positions in Leipzig, Sorau, Eisenach, and Frankfurt
before settling in Hamburg in 1721, where he became musical
director of the city's five main churches. While Telemann's
career prospered, his personal life was always troubled: his first
wife died only a few months after their marriage, and his second
wife had extramarital affairs and accumulated a large gambling
debt before leaving Telemann.
Telemann was and still is one of the most prolific composers in
Georg Philipp Telemann
history[1] (at least in terms of surviving oeuvre)[2] and was
(16811767), hand-colored
considered by his contemporaries to be one of the leading
aquatint by Valentin Daniel
German composers of the timehe was compared favorably
Preisler, after a lost painting by
both to his friend Johann Sebastian Bach, who made Telemann
Louis Michael Schneider, 1750.
the godfather and namesake of his son Carl Philipp Emanuel,
and to George Frideric Handel, whom Telemann also knew
personally. Telemann's music incorporates several national styles (French, Italian) and is even at
times influenced by Polish popular music. He remained at the forefront of all new musical
tendencies and his music is an important link between the late Baroque and early Classical styles.
Contents
1
2
3
4
5
Early life (16811712)

Frankfurt (171221)
Hamburg (172167)
Legacy and influence
Partial list of works
5.1 Operas
5.2 Passions
5.3 Cantatas
5.4 Oratorios
5.5 Orchestral suites
Telemann's signature (1714 and

1757).
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6
7
8
9
5.6 Chamber music

5.7 Concertos
5.7.1 Violin
5.7.2 Viola
5.7.3 Horn
5.7.4 Trumpet
5.7.5 Chalumeau
5.7.6 Oboe
5.7.7 Flute
Media
See also
References
External links
Early life (16811712)

Telemann was born in Magdeburg, then the capital of the
Duchy of Magdeburg, Brandenburg-Prussia. His father
Heinrich, deacon at the Church of the Holy Spirit
(Heilige-Geist-Kirche), died when Telemann was four.
The future composer received his first music lessons at 10,
from a local organist, and became immensely interested in
music in general, and composition in particular. Despite
opposition from his mother and relatives, who forbade any
musical activities, Telemann found it possible to study and
compose in secret, even creating an opera at age 12.
Telemann's birthplace, the city of

Magdeburg, in early 18th century.
Some 50 years before Telemann's birth
the city was sacked and had to be
rebuilt.
In 1697 After studies at the Domschule in Magdeburg and

at a school in Zellerfeld Telemann was sent to the famous
Gymnasium Andreanum at Hildesheim, where his musical
talent flourished, supported by school authorities,
including the rector himself. Telemann was becoming equally adept both at composing and
performing, teaching himself flute, oboe, violin, recorder, double bass, and other instruments. In
1701 he graduated from the Gymnasium and went to Leipzig to become a student at the Leipzig
University, where he intended to study law. He ended up becoming a professional musician,
regularly composing works for Nikolaikirche and even St. Thomas (Thomaskirche). In 1702 he
became director of the city's opera house Opernhaus auf dem Brhl, and later music director at the
Neukirche. Prodigiously productive, Telemann supplied a wealth of new music for Leipzig,
including several operas, one of which was first major opera, Germanicus. However, he became
engaged in a conflict with the cantor of Thomaskirche, Johann Kuhnau. The conflict intensified
when Telemann started employing numerous students for his projects, including those that were
Kuhnau's, from Thomasschule.
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Telemann left Leipzig in 1705 at the age of 24 after receiving an invitation to become
Kapellmeister for the court of Count Erdmann II of Promnitz at Sorau (now ary, in Poland). His
career there was cut short in early 1706 by the hostilities of the Great Northern War, and after a
short period of travels he entered the service of Duke Johann Wilhelm of Saxe-Eisenach, the city
where Johann Sebastian Bach was born. He became Konzertmeister on 24 December 1708 and
Secretary and Kapellmeister in August 1709. During his tenure at Eisenach Telemann created a
very large amount of music: at least four annual cycles of church cantatas, dozens of sonatas and
concertos, and other works. In 1709 he married Amalie Louise Juliane Eberlin, lady-in-waiting to
the Countess of Promnitz and daughter of the musician Daniel Eberlin. Their daughter was born in
January 1711. The mother died soon afterwards, leaving Telemann depressed and distraught.
Frankfurt (171221)
After less than a year he sought another position, and moved to Frankfurt on 18 March 1712 at the
age of 31 to become city music director and Kapellmeister at the Barfsserkirche. In Frankfurt, he
fully gained his mature personal style. Here, as in Leipzig, he was a powerful force in the city's
musical life, creating music for two major churches, civic ceremonies, and various city ensembles
and musicians. By 1720 he had adopted the use of the da capo aria, which had been adopted by
composers such as Domenico Scarlatti. Operas such as Narciso, which was brought to Frankfurt in
1719, written in the Italian idiom of composition, made a mark on Telemann's output.[3]
On 28 August 1714, three years after his first wife had died, Telemann married his second wife,
Maria Catharina Textor, daughter of a Frankfurt council clerk. They eventually had nine children
together. This was a source of much personal happiness, and helped him produce compositions.
Telemann continued to be extraordinarily productive and successful, even augmenting his income
by working for Eisenach employers as a Kapellmeister von Haus aus, that is, regularly sending new
music while not actually living in Eisenach. Telemann's first published works also appeared during
the Frankfurt period. His output increased rapidly, for he fervently composed tons of overturesuites, and chamber music, most of which is unappreciated[4] In the later half of the Frankfurt
period, he composed an innovative work, his Viola Concerto in G major, which is twice the length
of his violin concertos.[5] Also, here he composed his first choral masterpiece, his Brockes Passion,
in 1716.
Hamburg (172167)
The composer, however, was still ambitious and wishing for a better post, so in 1721 he accepted
the invitation to work in Hamburg as Kantor of the Johanneum Lateinschule, and music director of
the city's five largest churches. Soon after arrival, Telemann encountered some opposition from
church officials who found his secular music and activities to be too much of a distraction for both
Telemann himself and the townsfolk. The next year, when Johann Kuhnau died and the city of
Leipzig was looking for a new Thomaskantor, Telemann applied for the job and was approved, yet
declined after Hamburg authorities agreed to give him a suitable raise. After another candidate,
Christoph Graupner, declined, the post went to Johann Sebastian Bach.
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Telemann took little trips outside of Germany at this time. However,

later in the Hamburg period he traveled to Paris and stayed for eight
months, 1737 into 1738. He heard and was impressed by Castor et
Pollux, an opera by French composer Jean-Philippe Rameau. From
then on, he incorporated the French operatic style into his vocal
works. Before then, his influence was primarily Italian and
German.[6] Apart from that, Telemann remained in Hamburg for the
rest of his life. A vocal masterpiece of this period is his St Luke
Passion from 1728, which is a prime example of his fully matured
vocal style.
Georg Philipp Telemann.
His first years there were plagued by marital troubles: his wife's
Engraving by Georg
infidelity, and her gambling debts, which amounted to a sum larger
Lichtensteger, c. 1745.
than Telemann's annual income. The composer was saved from
bankruptcy by the efforts of his friends, and by the numerous
successful music and poetry publications Telemann made during
172540. By 1736 husband and wife were no longer living together because of their financial
disagreements. Although still active and fulfilling the many duties of his job, Telemann became less
productive in the 1740s, for he was in his 60s. He took up theoretical studies, as well as hobbies
such as gardening and cultivating exotic plants, something of a fad in Hamburg at that time, and a
hobby shared by Handel. Most of the music of the 1750s appears to have been parodied from
earlier works. Telemann's eldest son Andreas died in 1755, and Andreas' son Georg Michael
Telemann was raised by the aging composer. Troubled by health problems and failing eyesight in
his last years, Telemann was still composing into the 1760s. He died on the evening of 25 June
1767 from what was recorded at the time as a "chest ailment." He was succeeded at his Hamburg
post by his godson, Johann Sebastian Bach's second son Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach.
Legacy and influence

Telemann was one of the most prolific major composers of all time:[7] his all-encompassing oeuvre
comprises more than 3,000 compositions, a half of which have been lost, and most of which have
not been performed since the 18th century. From 1708 to 1750, Telemann composed 1,043 sacred
cantatas and 600 overture-suites, and types of concertos for combinations of instruments that no
other composer of the time composed.[8] The first accurate estimate of the number of his works was
provided by musicologists only during the 1980s and 1990s, when extensive thematic catalogues
were published. During his lifetime and the latter half of the 18th century, Telemann was very
highly regarded by colleagues and critics alike. Numerous theorists (Marpurg, Mattheson, Quantz,
and Scheibe, among others) cited his works as models, and major composers such as J.S. Bach and
Handel bought and studied his published works. He was immensely popular not only in Germany
but also in the rest of Europe: orders for editions of Telemann's music came from France, Italy, the
Netherlands, Belgium, Scandinavian countries, Switzerland, and Spain. It was only in the early
19th century that his popularity came to a sudden halt. Most lexicographers started dismissing him
as a "polygraph" who composed too many works, a Vielschreiber for whom quantity came before
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quality. Such views were influenced by an account of Telemann's music by Christoph Daniel
Ebeling, a late-18th-century critic who in fact praised Telemann's music and made only passing
critical remarks of his productivity. After the Bach revival, Telemann's works were judged as
inferior to Bach's and lacking in deep religious feeling.[9] For example, by 1911, the Encyclopdia
Britannica lacked an article about Telemann, and in one of its few mentions of him referred to "the
vastly inferior work of lesser composers such as Telemann" in comparison to Handel and Bach.[10]
Particularly striking examples of such judgements were produced by noted Bach biographers
Philipp Spitta and Albert Schweitzer, who criticized Telemann's cantatas and then praised works
they thought were composed by Bach, but which were composed by Telemann.[11] The last
performance of a substantial work by Telemann (Der Tod Jesu) occurred in 1832, and it was not
until the 20th century that his music started being performed again. The revival of interest in
Telemann began in the first decades of the 20th century and culminated in the Brenreiter critical
edition of the 1950s. Today each of Telemann's works is usually given a TWV number, which
stands for Telemann-Werke-Verzeichnis (Telemann Works Catalogue).
Telemann's music was one of the driving forces behind the late Baroque and the early Classical
styles. Starting in the 1710s he became one of the creators and foremost exponents of the so-called
German mixed style, an amalgam of German, French, Italian and Polish styles. Over the years, his
music gradually changed and started incorporating more and more elements of the galant style, but
he never completely adopted the ideals of the nascent Classical era: Telemann's style remained
contrapuntally and harmonically complex, and already in 1751 he dismissed much contemporary
music as too simplistic. Composers he influenced musically included pupils of J.S. Bach in Leipzig,
such as Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach and Johann Friedrich Agricola, as
well as those composers who performed under his direction in Leipzig (Christoph Graupner,
Johann David Heinichen and Johann Georg Pisendel), composers of the Berlin lieder school, and
finally, his numerous pupils, none of whom, however, became major composers. His music
deserves a place equal to Bach and Handel's, as the epitome of the high Baroque style, and even an
impetus behind the early classical style developed in the works of Giovanni Batista Sammartini and
Joseph Haydn.
Equally important for the history of music were Telemann's publishing activities. By pursuing
exclusive publication rights for his works, he set one of the most important early precedents for
regarding music as the intellectual property of the composer. The same attitude informed his public
concerts, where Telemann would frequently perform music originally composed for ceremonies
attended only by a select few members of the upper class.
Partial list of works

Operas
See List of operas by Telemann
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Passions
Georg Philipp Telemann's Passions
Cantatas
Cantata Cycle 17161717
Harmonischer Gottes-Dienst
Die Donner-Ode ("The Ode of Thunder") TWV 6:3a-b
Du bleibest dennoch unser Gott (Erstausgabe 1730)
Ihr Vlker, hrt
Ino (1765)
Sei tausendmal willkommen (Erstausgabe 1730)
Die Tageszeiten ("The Times of the Day") (1757)
Gott, man lobet dich, Cantata for the Peace of Paris, 1763, for 5-part chorus, flute, 2 oboes,
bassoon, 3 trumpets, 2 horns, strings & continuo, TWV 14:12
not by Telemann: Der Schulmeister ("The Schoolmaster" 1751), by Christoph Ludwig
Fehre.
Oratorios
Hamburger Admiralittsmusik several years including TWV 24:1
Der Tag des Gerichts ("The Day of Judgement")(1761-62)
Hamburgische Kapitnsmusik (various years)
Der Tod Jesu ("The Death of Jesus") TWV 5:6 (1755)
Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu" ("The Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus") TWV
6:6, (1760)
Trauermusik for emperor Karl VII (1745) Ich hoffete aufs Licht, TWV 4:13
Trauermusik for Hamburg mayor nl:Garlieb Sillem Schwanengesang TWV 4:6
Der aus der Lwengrube errettete Daniel ("Daniel Delivered from the Lions Den") (1731)
[This has been incorrectly attributed to Handel]
Orchestral suites
Grillen-symphonie TWV 50:1
Ouverture (Wassermusik: Hamburger Ebb und Fluth) TWV 55:C3
Ouverture des nations anciens et modernes in G TWV 55:G4
Ouverture in G minor TWV 55:g4
Suite in A minor for recorder, strings, and continuo TWV 55:a2
Overture: Alster Echo in F, for 4 horns, 2 oboes, bassoon, strings and continuo, TWV55:F11
Chamber music
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Sinfonia Spirituosa in D Major (2 violins, viola & continuo, trumpet ad libitum) TWV 44:1
Tafelmusik (1733) ('Tafelmusik' refers to music meant to accompany a meal)
Der getreue Musikmeister (1728), a musical journal containing 70 small vocal and
instrumental compositions
Twelve Paris Quartets in two sets of six (Quadri a violino, flauto traversiere, viola da gamba
o violoncello, e fondamento, 1730, reprinted as Six quatuors, 1736; Nouveaux quatuors en six
suites, 1738) for flute, violin, viola da gamba or cello, continuo, TWV 43:G1,D1,A1,g1,e1,h1
(first set), TWV 43:D3,a2,G4,h2,A3,e4 (second set)
Twelve Fantasias for Transverse Flute without Bass TWV 40:2-13
Twelve Fantasias for Violin without Bass TWV 40:14-25
Sonates sans basse (Telemann) TWV 40:101-106
Six Canonical Sonatas TWV 40: 118-123
Six Concertos for Flute and Harpsichord TWV 42.
Concertos
Violin
Violin Concerto in A Major "Die Relinge" TWV 51:A4
Concerto for Three Violins in F major, TWV 53:F1
Four Concertos for Four Violins TWV 40:201-204
Viola
Concerto in G Major for Viola and String Orchestra, TWV 51:G9; the first known concerto
for viola, still regularly performed today
Concerto in G Major for Two Violas and String Orchestra, TWV 52:G3
Horn
Concerto for Two Horns in D Major TWV 52:D1
Concerto for Two Horns in D Major TWV 52:D2
Concerto for Horn and Orchestra in D Major 51:D8
Trumpet
Trumpet Concerto in D major, 51:D 7
Concerto in D for Trumpet and 2 Oboes, 53:D 2
Concerto in D for Trumpet, Violin and Violoncello, 53:D 5
Concerto in D for 3 Trumpets, Timpani, 2 Oboes, 54:D 3
Concerto in D for 3 Trumpets, Timpani, 54:D 4
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Chalumeau
Concerto in C major for 2 Chalumeaux, 2 Bassoons and Orchestra, 52:C 1
Concerto in D minor for Two Chalumeaux and Orchestra, 52:d 1
Oboe
Concerto in A Major
Concerto in C Minor
Concerto in D Minor
Concerto in E Minor
Concerto in F Minor
Concerto in G Major
Sonata in A Minor
Sonata in G minor
Flute
Concerto in D Major, TWV51:D2
Concerto in E Minor for recorder & traverso, TWV51:e1
Concerto in B Minor, TWV41:h3
Concerto in C Minor, TWV41:c3
Media
See also
Letters and writings of George Frideric Handel
References
Notes
1. The Guinness Book of World Records 1998, Bantam Books, p. Page 402. ISBN 0-553-57895-2.
2. See Phillip Huscher, Program Notes - Telemann Tafelmusik III (http://www.cso.org
/main.taf?p=5,5,6,23), Chicago Symphony Orchestra, 2007.
3. "Baroque Composers and musicians". Baroquemusic.org. 2013. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
4. "Baroque Composers and musicians". Baroquemusic.org. 2013. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
5. Classical Archives http://www.classicalarchives.com/work/28811.html#tvf=tracks&tv=about. Retrieved
3 April 2016. Missing or empty |title= (help)
6. Wollny, Peter (1994). Notes on Telemann's St. Matthew Passion. hannsler classic. pp. 1215. Check date
values in: |access-date= (help);
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7. Profile on Classic FM website (http://www.classicfm.com/composers/telemann/)

8. BAROQUE COMPOSERS AND MUSICIANS http://www.baroquemusic.org/bqxtel.html. Retrieved
26 March 2016. Missing or empty |title= (help)
9. Zohn, GroveOnline.
10. See article "Song" in 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica (http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Song?)
11. Zohn, GroveOnline.
Sources
Zohn, Steven. "Georg Philipp Telemann". In Macy, Laura. Grove Music Online. Oxford Music
Online. Oxford University Press. (subscription required)
External links
Further information on Telemann and his works
Wikimedia Commons
has media related to
Georg Philipp
Telemann.
from Bach Cantatas Website (http://www.bachcantatas.com/Lib/Telemann-Georg-Philipp.htm)

Detailed biography at baroquemusic.org
(http://www.baroquemusic.org/bqxtel.html)
Partial list of Telemann publications and TWV numbers (https://web.archive.org
/web/20130813183627/http://www.uquebec.ca/musique/catal/telemann/telgp.html), Robert
Poliquin, Universit du Qubec (archive from 13 August 2013, accessed 25 May 2015).
(French)
Telemann as opera composer from 1708-61 (http://opera.stanford.edu/composers/T.html),
OperaGlass, Stanford University.
Works by or about Georg Philipp Telemann (https://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n79-117028)
in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
Modern editions
Prima la musica! (http://www.primalamusica.com/) Commercially available performing
editions of Telemann's music, as well as other baroque composers.
Habsburger Verlag (http://www.habsburgerverlag.de/) Modern performing editions of
Telemann's cantatas edited by Eric Fiedler.
Edition Musiklandschaften (http://www.edition-musiklandschaften.de/) Modern performing
editions of Telemann's yearly Passions from 1757 to 1767 edited by Johannes Pausch
Free sheet music
Free scores by Georg Philipp Telemann at the International Music Score Library Project
Free scores by Georg Philipp Telemann in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
Free scores, Cantatas (http://www.kantoreiarchiv.de/archiv/choir_orchestra/cantata
/telemann/), Archiv der kreuznacher-diakonie-kantorei.
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Free scores of Telemann's Harpsichord Fantasias TWV 33:1-36 (http://www.brightcecilia.com

/features/telemann-fantasias-for-harpsichord.html) at Brightcecilia Classical Music Forums
(http://www.brightcecilia.com/)
The Mutopia Project has compositions by Georg Philipp Telemann
(http://www.mutopiaproject.org/cgibin/make-table.cgi?Composer=TelemannGP)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Georg_Philipp_Telemann&
oldid=740892809"
Categories: 1681 births 1767 deaths 18th-century classical composers
18th-century German people Baroque composers Composers for harpsichord
Child classical musicians German classical composers German multi-instrumentalists
German music theorists German opera composers German male classical composers
Musicians from Hamburg Oratorio composers People from Magdeburg
People from the Duchy of Magdeburg
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