We mark the birth of March 14, 1681 – 341 years ago today – of the German composer Georg Philipp Telemann, in the city Magdeburg, in what today is central Germany. A contemporary of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) and George Frederick Handel (1685-1759) (both of whom Telemann numbered as good friends; Bach’s son Carl Philipp Emanuel was both the godson and namesake of Georg Philipp Telemann), Telemann was considered in his lifetime the greatest composer living and working in Germany, with our friend Sebastian Bach well down that list. Telemann died in Hamburg on June 25, 1767, at the age of 86. Georg Philipp was the youngest of three surviving children (two boys and a girl) of Maria and Heinrich Telemann. Young Telemann came from a long line of Protestant clergymen. His mother Maria’s father was a deacon, and his father Heinrich Telemann was a Lutheran pastor (as was Heinrich’s father before him). Sadly, Heinrich Telemann died his late 30’s in 1685 when Georg Philipp was just 4 years old, and the task of raising and providing for the family fell squarely on Maria Telemann’s shoulders. Single mothers are usually, by necessity, a tough bunch, and in this Maria Telemann […]
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Welcome to music history Monday for March 14th 2022 I’m Bob Greenberg and the title for today’s podcast is yorg Philip telemon if you haven’t already please consider joining me on my subscription site at patreon.com robertg Greenberg music where I blog Vlog podcast pontificate review and bloviate four to six times a
Week we Mark the birth on March 14th 1681 341 years ago today of the German composer yorg Philip telmon in the city of magur in what today is Central Germany a contemporary of Johan Sebastian Bach and George Frederick handle both of whom telemon numbered as good friends Bach’s son Carl Philip
Emmanuel was both the godson and namesake of yorg Phillip telmon telmon was considered in his lifetime the greatest composer living and working in Germany with our friend Sebastian Bach well down on that list telmon died in Hamburg on June 25th 1767 at the age of 86 yorg Phillip was the youngest of
Three surviving children two boys and a girl of Maria and Hinrich telmon young telmon came from a long line of Protestant clergymen his mother Maria’s father was a deacon and his father Hinrich telmon was a Lutheran Pastor as was hinrich’s father before him sadly Hinrich telmon died in his late 30s in
1685 when yorg philli was just four years old and the task of raising and providing for the family fell squarely on Maria telemon’s shoulders single mothers are usually by necessity a tough bunch and in this Maria telmon was no exception despite the fact that her youngest child yorg philli displayed prodigious musical
Talents from a young age she took it for granted that like his father and both his grandfathers before him young t was destined for the cloth and a career in the clergy but as is so often the case the young yorg Philip telmon had other ideas
By the age of 12 he had been taught to sing and play keyboards he had as well taught himself to play recorder violin and zither and on his own had learned the principles of composition sufficiently to have composed various Aras Mot and instrumental works at the
Age of 12 he composed his first opera entitled sigis Mundus to a labretto by the German poet and LST Christian Heinrich postl in 1739 the 58-year-old telmon wrote a brief autobiography regarding his Opera sigis Mundus he wrote quote this Opera was performed with a measure of a on an
Improvised stage with me singing a rather arrogant version of my own hero I really would like to see that music now unquote that’s some serious talent but rather than be proud of her precocious son and his musical aspirations Mama telmon freaked out terrified that yorg philli was headed for a career in music
Having produced his Opera at the age of 12 his mother forbade him from having any further contact with music and confiscated his musical instruments telmon later described it this way quote done music and instruments were whisked away and with them half my very life unquote but yorg Phillip was Wy or at
Least so he thought he was he composed secretly at night and practiced on borrowed instruments in seclusion quote my fire burned far too brightly and lighted my way into the path of innocent Disobedience so that I spent many a night with pen in hand because I was
Forbidden it by day and passed many an hour in lonely places with borrowed instruments unquote but in the end yor Phillip fooled no one not least his mother Maria who was enraged by her son’s innocent Disobedience Extreme Measures were called for so she wrote her husband’s old friend and University classmate
Casper Calver in the town of zeld about 50 miles Southwest of mberg calare was the superintendent of the school there in zfi and he agreed to not just accept the now 13-year-old yorg Phillip but to personally oversee his education we imagine that Maria telmont sighed with relief Calver was a
Theologian historian mathematician and a writer with a number of scientific papers and Publications to his credit Maria would seem to have had no idea that Cal had applied himself as well to a study of music music and had written several papers on Medieval music theory oops according to telmon biographer
Richard petzold yorg Philip telmon Oxford University press 1974 quote Casper calare rejoiced at his protege’s musical gift with Cal’s approval the boy once again set about practicing his instruments regularly writing pieces for the church choir as well as works for the town musicians and occasional pieces for celebrations weddings and the like
Unquote we don’t know how Maria telmon reacted when she became aware of the situation with Calver in zeld although we can safely assume she reacted poorly we do know that 7 years later when telmon was 20 and preparing to enter liip University she again demanded that he quote leave music and abandon
His entire musical household unquote in order to study law but in the end she was no more successful turning her son away from music when he was 20 than when he was 13 and we are all the Richer for that fact moving with dispatch we’re going to make rather
Quick work of the remainder of telemon’s Education and his career because we must move on to tackle two big issues the truly brain addling amount of Music He composed and the heartbreakingly low survival rate of that music in 1697 after three years under the benevolent guidance of superintendent Casper calare the
16-year-old telmon moved on to the celebrated gimnazium adrium in the Saxon city of hildesheim once again the school administration and telemon’s teachers treated him like the star he was the Rector of the gymnasium adriam one JC loius commissioned telmon to compose works for the school it was
While at the gimnasium adrium the telmon developed into a professional grade composer and per former along with having mastered the recorder violin and keyboard instruments he now took up and mastered the flute OBO Shalom that’s the ancestor of the clarinet Viola De Gamba double bass and bass
Trombone he graduated in 1701 and moved to leig where at 20 he became a professional musician he was commissioned by the mayor of leig to compose music for the Nikolai kersha and the Thomas kersa where Sebastian Bach would live and work from 1723 until his death in
1750 telmon led a 40 member student collegium musicum that gave public concerts entertained visiting dignitaries and provided music for the Noya kersa in 1702 telmon was appointed the director of leipzig’s mun Municipal opera house for which he composed his first major Opera entitled germanicus thank heavens for leipzig’s
Famed coffee houses the young telmon must have been seriously caffeinated to keep up with his composing and Performing schedule there were problems though and from an expected Source the recently appointed Chief musician or caner of the municipality of leig and its churches W Johan Kuno 1660 to
1722 for our information it was kunau who Bach replaced as caner of leig in 1723 22 years later but only after telmon had turned the job down kunau was jealous of telemon’s talent Youth and energy and down right furious with the way telmon was siphoning off his kunal’s students to
Perform for his projects including the cium musum well in 1705 at the age of 24 telmon left leig to become Capel Meister Chief musician for the court of count admond II of prominet at Soro which today is the town of Zari in Poland from there it was a succession of ever more
High status jobs culminating on July 10th 1721 when telmon received an offer from the htic city state of Hamburg to become the caner of the yanum Latin School and music director of hamburg’s five principal churches it was one of the most prestigious musical positions in all of Germany and having taken the job
Telemon remained there in Hamburg for the rest of his life yorg p telmon p for prolific according to the new Grove dictionary of music and musicians it was in hurg that quote telmon now entered the most productive phase of his career unquote you know that’s nice to know
Though that statement forces us to ask the IAL question was there ever a time aside from his infancy and dying days the telmon was not spectacularly productive the answer is no yorg Philip telmon was not just the most prolific composer of his time but very likely of all time but it wasn’t
Just his compositional fecundity that made telmon among the most famous beloved musicians of his time writing in the new Grove dictionary of music and musicians Steven Zone observes that telemon quote remained at the Forefront of musical Innovation throughout his career and was an important link between the late Baroque and early classical
Styles he also contributed significantly to Germany’s concert life and the fields of music publishing music educ ation and Theory unquote all together it is estimated that tan wrote over 3,000 works of which a full half of them have been lost the majority of his Works still extant have gone unperformed since
The years immediately following telemon’s death in 1767 in fact it wasn’t until the 1980s in the 1990s that the first accurate estimate of the number of telemon compositions was made let’s do some of the numbers mind numbing though they may be telmon composed at least 20 complete
Annual cycles of canatas that is a religious Opera based on a Biblical text that’s what a canata is for every week of the year time 20 only 12 of these 20 Cycles have survived intact it now appears that telmon composed some 1,700 such canatas of which roughly 1,400 have
Survived in 1740 telmon claimed to have composed quote several and 20 unquote operas for the stage at leig 35 operas for hurg and a number of others for the courts at vfel byro and eisenach when we put it all together the numbers are stunning telmon claims to
Have composed more than 50 operas we know for a fact that he composed 29 operas though only nine have survived intact despite these losses according to the new Grove dictionary of music and musicians quote telmon can be considered the most important composer of German language Opera in the first half of the
18th century unquote telmon was no less prolific when it came to instrumental music he composed roughly 125 orchestral Suites these are collections of dances for orchestra about 120 kerti tomorrow’s Dr Bob prescribes post will focus on eight of those coner scores pun intended of other orchestral Works sonatas in five to
Seven Parts nearly 40 quartets 130 trios 87 works for solo instruments including flute violin cello Etc and some 245 pieces for keyboard This abbreviated list of telemon’s Works indicates that he composed a really absurd amount of music but it signifies something else as well from sacred music played in church to
Operas for the opera house from orchestral music for the court to solo and chamber music for private performance the generic as in genre range of telemon’s output is simply stunning encompassing virtually every genre of music that existed at the time how does all that music get lost well it’s a good
Question it’s an old but still painful story as to why so much of telemon’s music was lost simply there was a little premium placed on the music of a dead composer when telmon passed away in 1767 respected as he and his music were when he was alive there was at the time
Of his death little or no concept of repertoire or cannon that might have secured the preservation of telemon’s entire output there were as of yet no libraries or archives extent to store catalog and preserve his Works telemon’s grandson yorg Michael telmon 1748 to 1831 the only musician
Among his heirs took and preserved what he could but the bulk of telemon’s huge musical estate including well over 50 passions starting in 1722 telmon composed a brand new St Matthew passion every four years oratorios serenades operas printed collections Etc they were all auctioned off in Hamburg on September 6th of
1769 some of this music survived some of it did not we are told that yorg Michael telmon himself was quote an honorable guardian of his grandfather’s Legacy unquote and those Works he had preserved ended up in the Royal Library in Berlin where they remain today Among The Works to have survived
Are an astonishing group of kerity that like Johan Sebastian Bach’s own brenberg conery employ instrumental combinations never used before or since as previously observed tomorrow’s Dr Bob prescribes post will focus on eight such canery composed by telmon between 1710 and 1720 until then thank you to sample and download one or all of
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