Georg Philipp Telemann Free Sheet Music, Program Notes, Recordings and Biography

The Master of All Styles

In 1722, the city of Leipzig was looking to hire a new music director for its principal churches, one of the most prestigious posts in Germany. Their first choice was obvious: Georg Philipp Telemann, the most famous and admired composer in the German-speaking world. They made him a generous offer, which Telemann accepted. However, Telemann, a shrewd negotiator, then used the Leipzig offer to leverage a significant pay raise from his current employers in the city of Hamburg. His salary secured, he politely turned Leipzig down. The disappointed town council was forced to move on to its second choice, a respectable but far less famous organist and composer named Johann Sebastian Bach. This famous incident perfectly illustrates Telemann's colossal stature in his own time. He was a superstar, a brilliant composer, a savvy businessman, and a true master of his craft.

The Self-Taught Prodigy

Georg Philipp Telemann was born in Magdeburg, Germany. His father, a clergyman, died when he was young, and his family had no musical background. Despite this, the young Telemann was a voracious and gifted musician. He taught himself to play the flute, violin, zither, and various keyboard instruments, and he composed his first opera at the age of twelve. His mother and her advisors, fearing music was not a respectable profession, confiscated his instruments and forbade him from composing. To appease them, he agreed to study law. In 1801, he enrolled at the University of Leipzig, intending to leave music behind forever.

Leipzig, Sorau, and the Polish Style

His resolution did not last. On the road to Leipzig, he met the young George Frideric Handel, beginning a lifelong friendship and correspondence. Once at the university, his musical talent was quickly discovered. He founded the student Collegium Musicum, an orchestra that gave public concerts and for which he composed constantly. He abandoned his law studies and became a major figure in the city's musical life.

After leaving Leipzig, he took a post as Kapellmeister for a count in Sorau (now Żary, Poland). This was a crucial period in his development. He fell in love with the vibrant sounds of Polish and Moravian folk music, with its "barbaric beauty," and he began to incorporate its lively, rustic rhythms into his own work. This was just one example of his incredible ability to absorb and master different national styles.

Frankfurt and the Rise to Fame

In 1712, Telemann was appointed city music director in the thriving commercial center of Frankfurt. Here, his fame grew exponentially. He was responsible for providing music for the city's two main churches, as well as for various civic ceremonies and public concerts. The workload was immense, requiring a constant stream of new cantatas, psalms, and instrumental music, but Telemann’s creative energy seemed boundless. He composed with astonishing speed and fluency. It was during his Frankfurt years that he began to solidify his reputation as Germany's leading composer.

The Hamburg Years: Europe's Music Director

In 1721, Telemann accepted the prestigious and highly lucrative post as music director of the five principal churches in Hamburg, Germany's largest and wealthiest city. He would remain in this position for the rest of his life, for more than 45 years. His duties were staggering. He was required to compose two cantatas every Sunday, as well as music for special occasions, and to oversee the city's opera. He also revived the Hamburg Collegium Musicum, giving regular public concerts.

It was in Hamburg that Telemann became not just a German celebrity, but a European one. His music was performed from Paris to Poland, from London to Italy. He was a master of every musical genre and style of his day. He could write a solemn German cantata, a graceful French orchestral suite, or a brilliant Italian concerto with equal and seemingly effortless skill. His music was praised for its elegance, its natural-sounding melodies, and its expressive charm.

A Businessman and a Gardener

Telemann was also a brilliant musical entrepreneur. He was one of the first composers to see the potential of music publishing. In 1728, he founded Germany’s first music journal. He also taught himself engraving so that he could publish his own music, marketing it to a growing middle-class audience of amateur musicians across Europe.

His most famous publication was the monumental Tafelmusik (or Musique de Table), issued in 1733. It is a vast collection of orchestral suites, concertos, quartets, and sonatas, designed to be performed during feasts and banquets. He sold it via subscription, and the list of subscribers reads like a "who's who" of European musical life, including his friend G.F. Handel.

After a long and incredibly productive life, Telemann remained active into his old age. He took up a new passion for cultivating exotic plants in his garden and continued to compose, even embracing the newer, simpler galant style that was coming into fashion. When he died in 1767 at the age of 86, he was succeeded in his Hamburg post by his godson, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. While his fame was eclipsed by J.S. Bach's in the 19th century, a modern revival has restored Telemann to his rightful place as a giant of the Baroque era, a composer of boundless imagination and inexhaustible creativity.

Section 4: References and Further Reading

References and Further Reading

• Zohn, Steven. Music for a Mixed Taste: Style, Genre, and Meaning in Telemann's Instrumental Works. Oxford University Press, 2008.

• Petzoldt, Richard. Georg Philipp Telemann. Translated by Horace Fitzpatrick. Oxford University Press, 1974.

• Hirschmann, Wolfgang. "Telemann, Georg Philipp." In The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed., edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. Macmillan Publishers, 2001.