Georg Philipp Telemann

There seems to be no more prolific composer than Telemann, who wrote over six thousand scores by the end of his life and was more famous than Johann Sebastian Bach, although the latter's influence has since eclipsed the former's importance. Georg Philipp Telemann was born in Magdeburg on March 14, 1681, into a cultured family of academics. The son of a pastor who died four years later, he studied at the old town college and received a full education at the cathedral school, acquiring Latin, Greek and German philosophy. He also attended private schools, where he learned to play the violin, recorder, zither and harpsichord. His mother disapproved of his ambition to become a musician, an inferior position, so he composed in secret, taking advantage of college concerts to present his first opera, Sigismundus, at the age of twelve, to a libretto by Christian Heinrich Postel. He took singing and music theory lessons from the choirmaster Benedikt Christiani, and showed himself to be as gifted a student of languages, practicing French, English and Italian, as he was of music. In 1893, his mother sent him away to the school in Zellerfeld, where he found a music lover in Superintendent Caspar Calvör, who constantly commissioned him to write pieces for church services and municipal musicians. In 1697, Telemann continued his studies at the Gymnasium Andreanum in Hildersheim, where he studied new instruments such as the organ, viola da gamba, oboe, trombone and double bass under Johann Christoph Losius. He took part in student cantata concerts and composed vocal works for the school and for the Abbey of St. Gotthard, through its director, Father Crispus. He traveled to Hanover and Brunswick to attend concerts. In 1701, he entered the University of Leipzig to study law, and on his way to Halle met the young Georg Friedrich Händel, with whom he maintained a lifelong long-distance friendship. Despite his promise to his mother to give up music, a classmate stumbled across a score in his luggage and had the piece performed at St. Thomas's Church. As a result, the town's mayor, Romanus, commissioned Telemann to compose two monthly cantatas for the church service. The following year, he formed an orchestra of some forty students, the Collegium Musicum, which continued without him after his graduation, and which Johan Sebastian Bach even conducted. Having been offered the position of musical director of the Leipzig Opera, he abandoned his studies and engaged a number of singers and members of his group for the works he accompanied on basso continuo. His activity and influence displeased the city's cantor, Johann Kuhnau, who refused to make the church choir available to him. In 1704, Telemann was appointed musical director of Leipzig's Neukirche, but only for a short time, as during a trip to Berlin, Count Erdmann II of Promnitz offered him the chance to succeed Wolfgang Caspar Printz as Kapellmeister at the Silesian court of Sorau, where he is said to have composed over two hundred works in two years. Telemann was appreciated for his knowledge of French music, of which the Count was a great fan, and met the poet Erdmann Neumeister, with whom he would later collaborate. The composer discovered Moravian folklore during his escapades in Krakow and Pless. When Swedish troops approached Sorau, he found refuge in Eisenbach, where he was appointed concertmaster and cantor at the court of Duke Johann Wilhelm. Here, he came into contact with the likes of Printz and Bach, and composed extensively: dozens of cantatas, operettas, serenades, church music and occasional baritones. In 1709, he married Amalie Luise Julian Eberlin, a lady-in-waiting in the service of the Countess, who died of fever after two years of marriage, not without having given him a daughter. In February 1712, after applying for a post, he was appointed to the musical direction of the city of Frankfurt, and expanded his activities when the court of Eisenach offered him the post of conductor, so that he could continue to provide cantatas and sacred and secular works until 1731. In Frankfurt, Telemann demonstrated his versatility in producing pieces for all circumstances, except opera, where he submitted his creations to Leipzig. He also offered his lucrative services to the Gesellschaft Frauenstein club, organizing concerts. After his marriage in 1714 to Maria Katharina Textor, of whom he had eight sons and one daughter, he began publishing his own works. Two years later, Duke Frederick II of Saxe-Gotha offered him the post of conductor, which he could combine with his duties in Eisenach and with the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, thus ensuring his supremacy over all the courts of the region. After negotiations with the city of Frankfurt, Telemann refused the Duke's offer. He reunited with Handel during a stay in Dresden, and composed a series of pieces for the violin virtuoso Johann Georg Pisendel. In 1721, Telemann left Frankfurt for Hamburg, where he was appointed director of the city's five main churches, opera house and musical activities until his death. In 1723, he also accepted the position of Kapellmeister at the court of the Margrave of Bayreuth. The city of Leipzig made several attempts to persuade him to return to the city of his youth, offering him the post of cantor at St. Thomas's Church, but when he refused, he had to fall back on the lesser-known Johann Sebastian Bach. In 1728, together with Johann Valentin Görner, he founded the first German music magazine, Der getreue Musikmeister. In 1737-1738, he spent eight months in Paris, where he was very well received, performing his works at court and at the Concert Spirituel. On this occasion, he composed the Paris Quartets (nos. 7 to 12). He continued to produce music for the city of Frankfurt until 1757, ten years before his death on June 25, 1767, at the age of 86. Telemann wrote three autobiographies, in 1718, 1729 and 1740, which proved to be valuable sources. His output, listed in the Telemann-Werke-Verzeichnis catalog compiled by Martin Ruhnke between 1984 and 1999, comprises over 3,600 works preceded by the TWV index (many others appear to have been lost), including more than 600 orchestral compositions, over 40 operas, some 1,700 church cantatas, 15 masses, 22 psalms, some 40 passions, 6 oratorios, motets, secular cantatas, etc. Among his best-known works are the Tafelmusik (1733), the Wassermusik (1723), 12 fantasias for solo violin (1735) and 12 fantasias for solo flute (1732-1733).

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