I write tonight in praise of Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767). Telemann was well-thought-of during his lifetime and seems to have suffered only one great misfortune. When Johann Kunau died in 1722, Telemann was among the applicants for the vacant position at Leipzig’s Thomaschule. Telemann was offered the job, but declined. Christoph Graupner was then offered the job. He, too, declined the offer and the job finally went to candidate number three, J.S. Bach. The unfortunate result is that history has never quite forgiven Telemann for upstaging Bach and likes to paint his as some sort of less-talented Salieri to Bach’s Mozart.
While I am quite willing to assert Bach’s supremacy in the pantheon of composers, I also have a great affection for Telemann and dislike the implicit aspersion cast upon him by Bach enthusiasts. He was in many ways the more progressive composer of the two, frequently waxing proto-classical and maintaining a correspondence with his godson, C.P.E. Bach. He also surpassed Bach in the diversity of his output, since he (for a while, anyway) managed to write for the opera as well as the church.
As I write this, I’m listening to a recording of twelve fantasias, originally written for unaccompanied flute, but played on this disc by Dutch recorder-goddess Maria Verbruggen. I’ve been fascinated with works for solo instruments since discovering Bach’s cello suites in college and I have to rate Telemann’s fantasias for flute and for violin among my favorites in this difficult genre. While he does occasionally offer up the seeming contradiction of a single-voice fugue, faux counterpoint is not as common in Telemann as in Bach. Dance movements are prominent as are movements which have a very declamatory, aria-like quality. He shared Bach’s affection for the viola da gamba (at that time already losing ground to the modern cello), and composed both accompanied and unaccompanied sonatas for that instrument. Especially for the modern ear, it is not an easy thing to sustain interest in a single musical voice, but Telemann manages this admirably.
So I heartily recommend the Verbruggen recording, and also Andrew Manze’s recording of the violin pieces. As you listen to these, remember that not everyone can be smiled upon by history as were Bach and Handel. The German Baroque has more to offer us than those two great luminaries.