How to conflate Telemann’s birthday and Pi Day? Why, get yourself some pie and enjoy Telemann’s “Tafelmusik,” of course. This courtly table music can run to at least four hours, complete. That’s plenty of time to bake from scratch. Brew the coffee strong and go for Baroque.
Happy birthday, Telemann!
On the birthday of Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767), here’s my first Telemann album, with Concentus Musicus of Denmark, purchased around 1982. If I’m not mistaken, it was actually issued in 1965. It sure does look like it. This got me thinking about Nonesuch Records’ characteristically groovy cover art from the era. How many of these do you remember?
Poor Telemann. He was a casualty of having done his job too well.
He wrote more music than Bach and Handel combined – over 3000 works – making him one of the most prolific composers of all time. Yet nothing in his oeuvre has captured the public imagination quite like the “Brandenburg Concertos” or the “Water Music.”
Of course, he wrote “Water Music” too.
On the other hand, he was recognized in his own lifetime. He was an innovator, assimilating Italian and French influences into his own style, and his contemporaries bought and studied his scores. He was offered the cantorate of the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, ahead of Bach. He counted Bach among his friends, as well as Handel. Bach even requested that he be the godfather of his son, Carl Philipp Emanuel.
Telemann lived an unusually long life (86 years), though it was not without its miseries. His first wife died young. His second ran up gambling debts in amounts larger than his annual income. Ultimately, his friends had to bail him out. As he grew older, he suffered further indignities, including failing eyesight.
Celebrated in his own day, by the 19th century he was dismissed as a “polygraph,” someone who had simply composed too much. In a sense, he was a victim of his own success.
Today, he inspires renewed enthusiasm among early music specialists, who have done much to restore his reputation. At the very least, he deserves a little recognition on his birthday.
Happy Birthday, Georg Philipp Telemann!
One of my favorite Telemann moments, the “Air à l’Italien” from the Suite in A Minor for Flute and Orchestra:
Always been partial to this one, too:
While we’re on the topic of Baroque masters, allow me to offer a gentle remind that we are now only a week away from Bach’s birthday. WWFM The Classical Network is looking to generate enough donations to cancel fundraising on March 21, so that we can all celebrate with just Bach’s music. To make it happen, we need 500 listeners to step up and contribute IN ANY AMOUNT. Once the 500 donations are reached, the focus will shift exclusively to the music.
Already the tally is at the halfway point. Contribute now, and become one of the “Bach 500.” Thank you for doing your part in making this campaign a success and in ensuring a home for great music from the Baroque and beyond, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org!
Shrove Tuesday. Mardi Gras. Fastnacht Day.
The last day to stuff down as many doughnuts as you can before the start of Lent.
To mark the occasion, this afternoon on The Classical Network, we’ll glut ourselves with music related to Carnival.
Among the featured highlights will be Heitor Villa-Lobos’ fantasy for piano and orchestra, “Momôprecóce” (“Carnival of the Brazilian Children”); Robert Schumann’s cryptogrammatic “Faschingsschwank aus Wien” (“Carnival Jest from Vienna”); and Igor Stravinsky’s Shrovetide ballet “Petrouchka,” in a recording conducted by Princeton Symphony Orchestra music director Rossen Milanov.
We’ll also enjoy a touch of Mardi Gras, with some pieces on Creole themes; a set of variations on “Carnival of Venice;” musical depictions of stock characters of the commedia dell’arte; and “Manhã de Carnaval,” from the film “Black Orpheus.”
First, on today’s Noontime Concert, it’s a Telemann blow-out. Tempesta di Mare – Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra will present “Fire and Invention,” part of its Telemann 360° project.
Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767) left behind an enormous catalogue of monumental compositions in every style and genre (with 3000 works to his credit, the Guinness Book lists him as the most prolific composer of all time), yet so much of it remains unrecognized, or even unperformed.
The sheer volume of his output has made it difficult for posterity to wrap its collective head around the full scope of his accomplishments. Tempesta is doing its best to change all that. Today’s concert will include a Concerto for Orchestra, a collection of Entr’actes, and a Violin Concerto, featuring Tempesta principal violinist Emlyn Ngai.
Tell your friends to tune in for Telemann. Then stick around for plenty of fried, buttery goodness. Abandon yourself to the debauchery of Carnival, from 12 to 4 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
Of the three Baroque masters who were born between February 23 (George Frideric Handel) and March 21 (Johann Sebastian Bach), it is too often Georg Philipp Telemann who fulfills the function of Larry Fine.
Caught between Bach’s contrapuntal face-slaps and eye-pokes and Handel’s melodic-dramatic shoulder-spins, Telemann, as often as not, winds up getting his hair pulled and his violin smashed.
I thought it only right to point out that Telemann taught himself the flute, oboe, recorder, double bass, etc., all against the wishes of his family. He wrote more music than Bach and Handel combined – over 3000 works – making him one of the most prolific composers of all time. He was also offered the cantorate of the Thomaskirche in Leipzig ahead of Bach.
Sure, Bach and Handel were his friends, and he was the godfather of Bach’s son, C.P.E., but he also lived too long and lost his eyesight. And his wife ran up horrific gambling debts.
Anyway, happy birthday, Telemann. You may have written way too much music for your own good, but you were always the funniest of the Baroque stooges.
Which reminds me: Here at WWFM – The Classical Network, we’re only a week away from Bach’s birthday, and we’re looking to generate enough donations that we, in good conscience, can cancel fundraising on that day, March 21, and celebrate by simply enjoying Bach’s music. We call it the “Bach 500.” Basically, we’re looking for 500 listeners to step up and contribute in any amount. When we reach 500 donations, we stop asking for money and focus exclusively on spinning the discs.
We are accepting contributions now, at our website, wwfm.org – click on “donate” – or please call us during business hours at 1-888-232-1212. If you have received a renewal request in the mail, get that return envelope back to us ASAP, so that we can include you in the tally before the 21st.
Again, 500 contributions will cancel the fundraising and open the floodgates on Bach. (Bach, after all, is German for brook.) Thank you for doing your part to make this year’s Bach 500 a success!
PORTRAITS (left to right): Bach, Telemann, and Handel
Nyuk nyuk nyuk!
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