Poor Telemann. You were a casualty of having done your job too well.

A composer of genius, you were virtually self-taught, against the opposition of your family. In addition, you taught yourself flute, oboe, violin, recorder, double bass, etc. You spun out music by the yard. In fact, you wrote more music than Bach and Handel combined, over 3000 works, making you one of the most prolific composers of all time. Yet nothing in your oeuvre has captured the public imagination quite like the “Brandenburg Concertos” or the “Water Music.”

Of course, you wrote Water Music, too.

On the other hand, you were recognized in your lifetime. You were an innovator, taking what you needed from the Italians and the French to bolster your own style, and your contemporaries bought and studied your scores. You were offered the cantorate of the Thomaskirche in Leipzig ahead of Bach. You counted Bach among your friends, as well as Handel. Bach even requested that you become the godfather of his son, Carl Philipp Emanuel.

You lived an unusually long life (86 years), though it was not without its miseries. Your first wife died young. Your second ran up gambling debts in amounts larger than your annual income, and ultimately your friends had to bail you out. As you grew older, you suffered further indignities, including failing eyesight.

Celebrated in your own day, by the 19th century you were dismissed as a “polygraph,” someone you had simply composed too much. In a sense, you were a victim of your own success.

Still, you continue to give employment to thousands of early music specialists, who have done much to restore your reputation. I think at least you deserve a little recognition on your birthday:

Happy Birthday, Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767).

One of my favorite Telemann moments, the “Air à l’Italien” from the Suite in A Minor for Flute and Orchestra: