Telemann
ACHIEVEMENT(S): To his contemporary fellow-Germans, the greatest living composer.
DATE/PLACE OF BIRTH: 14thMarch 1681, Magdeburg, Germany.
DATE/PLACE/AGE AT DEATH: 25thJune 1767, Hamburg, Germany. Aged 86.
DISCIPLINE: Composer.
FIELD: Music.
EDUCATION: Altstadtisches Gymnasium, Magdeburg; Domschule, Magdeburg;
Zellerfeld School (1693-97); Gymnasium Andreanum, Hildesheim (1697-1701); University of Leipzig (1701-05)
MAJOR WORK: Major Works: Operas: More than 50, including 'Der gedultige Socrates' (first performed 1721); 'Der neu-modische Liebhaber Damon' (1724); 'Pimpinone' (1725).
Oratorios and cantatas: 'Der Tag des Gerichts' (1762); 'Ino' (1766); 'Die Tageszeiten'; 'Der Tod Jesu'; 'Die Auferstehung Christi'; 'Seliges Erwgen, 46 Passions'.
Instrumental: 'Musique de table', productions 1-3 (published 1733); innumerable concerti, suites, quartets and sonatas, for varying instrumental combinations.
LIFE AND TIMES:
In 1697 Telemann attended the Gymnasium Andreanum, in Hildesheim, where the Rector of the school, J. C. Losius, supervised Telemann's general education and encouraged him to compose incidental songs for his numerous Latin school dramas. While at Hildesheim, Telemann and some of his Protestant fellow students gave performances of German cantatas in the Catholic church and on visits to Hanover and Brunswick in 1698 and 1699, Telemann had his first taste of French instrumental music and Italian opera. In early 1701 he was visited by the 16-year-old < a pal of> Handel* and they became lifelong friends.
In the autumn of 1701, Telemann enrolled at the University of Leipzig, where he intended to study law, in accordance with his mother's wishes. He left all his instruments, compositions and notes behind in Magdeburg and attempted for a while to conceal his musical gifts from his fellow students. The story goes that one day a room-mate discovered one of Telemann's compositions, and arranged to have it performed in the Thomaskirche. As a result of this, Telemann was commissioned by the mayor of Leipzig to write cantatas for every alternate Sunday for the Thomaskirche, and the stage was set for a musical career.
In 1702, he became musical director of the Leipzig Opera and within three years he had composed at least four operas. In 1704 a new organ was installed in the University church, Telemann applied for the post of organist and was offered the appointment. In 1705 he was summoned to the court of Count Erdmann II of Promnitz, at Sorau (now Zary, Poland) where he became Kapellmeister and was required to provide French overtures in the style of Lully* and Campra.
When the court spent six months at Pless, one of the count's domains in Upper Silesia, Telemann came into contact with Polish folk music, and visits to Krakow helped to develop his admiration for the 'barbaric beauty' of this music. He also made several journeys from Sorau to Berlin, where he became familiar with court instrumental music and opera. It was in Sorau that Telemann met the reformer Erdmann Neumeister, who wrote cantata texts and since 1706 had been superintendent and court chaplain. Neumeister would later help him in his career. In Sorau he also met his future wife, Louise Eberlin, a lady-in-waiting to the Countess of Promnitz, and daughter of the musician Daniel Eberlin. In 1708, Telemann was appointed first violin, and then court director of music at Eisenach, and began immediately to compose overtures, concertos and chamber works for the orchestra. When the new Hofkapelle was established he was also required to compose church cantatas and music for special occasions.
While he at Eisenach he must have met J.S. Bach*, whose cousin Johann Bernhard Bach was town organist there, and was involved in the musical life of the court. In 1709, on his solemn promise that he would return to Eisenach and refuse all other offers of employment, Telemann was granted leave of absence and returned to Sorau, where he married Louise Eberlin, only to lose her in January 1711 when she died after the birth of his first daughter.
In 1712, Telemann accepted an invitation to Frankfurt am Main, where he became the city’s director of music and director of music at the Barfusse church. He became director of the Collegium Musicum of the Frauenstein Society, an aristocratic gathering, and arranged weekly public concerts for which he composed chamber and orchestral music and oratorios. In 1714 Telemann became godfather to C.P.E. Bach*, the most famous and prolific of the sons of J. S. Bach, and also married Maria Katherina Textor, daughter of a Frankfurt council clerk, who bore him eight sons and two daughters. After all that, she ran away with a Swedish officer, leaving Telemann with a large debt.
In September 1716 he was appointed visiting director of music at Eisenach and in 1717 he was offered the same job at Gotha. Although he did not accept the offer, he used it to strengthen his position at Frankfurt, winning better conditions and the employment of extra musicians. In 1719 Telemann went to Dresden for the celebrations of the marriage of the Prince Elector of Saxony, Friedich August II, and dedicated a violin concerto to the Dresden Concert Master J.G. Pisendel, a pupil of Vivaldi*. Meanwhile, Telemann sent his own operas to Leipzig and Hamburg, his 'Der geduldige Socrates' being performed at the Hamburg Opera in January 1721.
On 10th July 1721, Telemann was invited by the city of Hamburg to succeed Joachim Gerstenbuttel as Kantor of the Johanneum, and as musical director of the five main churches in the city. In 1722, he refused an offer from the municipal authorities in Leipzig to succeed Kuhnau as organist of the Thomaskirche. (Following Telemann's refusal, the position went instead to Johann Sebastian Bach). On 14th October 1740, Telemann offered for sale the plates of all his own editions of his works, which was, according to his autobiography, a consequence of his decision to devote the rest of his life to compiling books on musical theory. His musical output fell sharply between 1740 and 1755, though he continued to write music for church consecrations, inductions, memorial services and civic occasions. 1755 saw the beginning of a new phase in Telemann's creativity.
Influenced perhaps by Handel, with whom he still corresponded in old age, he turned once more, at the age of 74, to writing oratorios, choosing texts by the younger generation of poets, some of these late works being frequently performed in Hamburg decades after Telemann's death in Hamburg on 25th June 1767.
ASSESSMENT: In the eyes of his contemporaries Telemann was the greatest living composer.
EXTRA CONNECTIONS: None
ONELINER: GP Telemann, major 18th-century German composer
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Ruhnke, Martin,George Philipp Telemann,The New Grove North European Baroque Masters, London: Macmillan, 1985.
LANGUAGE: German.
PARENTS: Heinrich Telemann and Maria Haltmeier.
SIBLINGS: 1 brother.
SPOUSE: Louise Eberlin, married 1709; Maria Katharina Textor,
married 1714.
CHILDREN: 1 daughter from first marriage; 8 sons, 2 daughters from second
marriage.