Georg Philipp Telemann

Georg Philipp Telemann (March 14, 1681  June 25, 1767) was a German baroque composer. He wrote more than 3,000 pieces of music, many of which were published. As publishing cost much money at that time, this was quite unusual. He mostly taught himself musically and knew how to play instruments. During his life people thought he was one of the greatest composers. He also wrote lots of church music, most of which is not common today.

Life

Early life 
Telemann was born in Magdeburg. His father died when he was four years old. He studied music with an organist for two weeks. He wrote his first opera at the age of 12. However, his mother did not want him to become a musician. So, she took away his instruments. She did not let Telemann write music. Telemann continued to play and write music secretly. His mother sent him to a school in Zellerfeld. She hoped that Telemann would lose his interests in music. Even so, Telemann continued to write and study music. He learned how to play the figured bass himself. He wrote music for school events. He also wrote church music. After studying in Zellerfeld for four years, he went to study in Hildesheim.

Leipzig 

After Telemann graduated, he gave up music. He went to Leipzig to study law. One day, his friend found a piece of Telemann's music. It was a setting of the sixth Psalm. It was soon performed in the Thomaskirche. The mayor of Leipzig heard the performance. He asked Telemann to write church music for the two churches in Leipzig, the Thomaskirche and Nikolaikirche. So, Telemann went back to writing music. He became the director of the Leipzig Opera in 1702. He was chosen to become the organist of the Neukirche.

Telemann founded a collegium musicum in Leipzig. The collegium was a group of students who loved music. On Sundays they performed Telemann's church music. They also performed in coffee houses and for noblemen. The cantor of the Thomaskirche, Johann Kuhnau did not like that his students joined the Collegium.

Telemann left Leipzig in 1705. He became the Kapellmeister in the court of Sorau. He worked for Count Erdmann II of Promnitz. The count loved French music. So, Telemann had to write music in the French style. Many musicians were fired by the count. Even so, Telemann was not fired. He left Sorau when Sweden attacked the town in 1706.

Eisenach 
Telemann went to work in Eisenach, the birthplace of Johann Sebastian Bach. He was a Konzertmeister. His job was writing music and playing the violin. Telemann worked with Pantaleon Hebenstreit. He was a better violinist than Telemann. Telemann played concertos for two violins with Hebenstreit. Telemann and Hebenstreit made the orchestra in Eisenach bigger. Telemann hired musicians from Leipzig. Hebenstreit hired musicians from Weißenfels, where he used to work.

Telemann wrote instrumental music in Eisenach. He wrote concertos, overtures, and chamber music. Telemann also wrote church cantatas. After Telemann left Eisenach, Telemann still wrote music for Eisenach. He sent a cantata cycle every two years to Eisenach. A cantata cycle is a collection of cantatas. The cantatas are meant to be performed in a church year. When Duke John William died in 1719, Telemann stopped sending cantatas.

Telemann returned to Sorau to marry Amalie Louise Juliane Eberlin in 1709. She was the daughter of Daniel Eberlin, a composer. She died in 1711 after giving birth to their daughter. Telemann soon left Eisenach.

Frankfurt 
Telemann went to Frankfurt in 1712. He became the music director of the city's two churches. He taught singing and Latin in the schools. He wrote five cantata cycles for the churches. He published his first set of music in 1715. They are six sonatas for the violin. He led another collegium musicum. It was called the Frauenstein collegium. Telemann wrote music for the collegium. The collegium also performed Telemann's first passion oratorio, the Brockes-Passion, in 1716. The performance was a success.  

Telemann did not want to work as a Kapellmeister again. However, he was asked to become the new Kapellmeister when he went to Gotha in 1716. Duke Ernest Augustus I of Saxe-Weimar also wanted to make Telemann the Kapellmeister of Eisenach, Gotha, and Weimar. Telemann chose to stay in Frankfurt for five more years.

Telemann married Maria Catharina Textor in 1714. They had nine children.

Hamburg 

Telemann moved to Hamburg in 1721. He became the music director of Hamburg. He was in charge of the music in five churches in Hamburg. He had to write two cantatas for every Sunday. He had to write music for special events. He also taught history and music to students. However, Telemann was not allowed to play concerts in public. He was also not paid as much as he wanted.

In 1722, Johann Kuhnau, the cantor of the Thomaskirche died. The city of Leipzig looked for a new cantor. Telemann had worked in Leipzig before. Leipzig's city council wanted Telemann to become the new cantor. So, they asked Telemann to come to Leipzig. Telemann came to Leipzig on August 1. He performed two cantatas for his audition on August 9. He was chosen by the council on August 13. He told Hamburg's city council that he was going to leave Hamburg. Hamburg's city council did not want Telemann to leave. So, they increased his salary. Telemann changed his mind. He did not become the cantor of the Thomaskirche. Johann Sebastian Bach was chosen as the cantor.

Telemann had a debt of 5,000 Reichstalers in 1726. It was because his wife spent a lot of money. Around this time, Telemann started publishing music. He might have started publishing music to pay back his debts. He had paid back 3,000 Reichstalers in 1736.

Later life 

Telemann went to Paris in 1737. He was asked to come to Paris by French musicians. Some people in Paris had published six of Telemann's quartets. This set is the first part of the Paris quartets. Telemann did not allow them to publish the set. He published another six quartets, called the , in Paris. This is the second part of the Paris quartets. Telemann wrote about music in France after he returned to Hamburg. However, he did not finish writing it.

Telemann stopped publishing music in 1740. He sold all of the copper plates which he used to print music. He wrote music theory books. However, he did not publish them. He started to do gardening. He received many rare plants from other composers. Handel sent him a crate of plants from England. Telemann stopped writing new cantatas around 1750. He used music he had written before. He could not direct performances. His legs had become weak. He was helped by his grandson, Georg Michael.

Telemann died on 25 June 1767 at the age of 86. His godson Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach became the next music director of Hamburg.

Music 
Telemann wrote more than 3,000 pieces of music. His music mixes different styles. He wrote in the French and Italian styles. He also used Polish folk music's style. He heard Polish folk music when he worked in Sorau. He was one of the first composers to write a concerto for the viola.

Telemann published his own music. At that time, publishing music cost a lot of money. Composers did not get a lot of money by publishing music. Even so, Telemann started a publishing business. He even engraved some of the copper plates himself. The copper plates were used to print the music on paper. He created a musical newspaper. It was called  (English: The Faithful Music Master). He published his music in the newspaper. He also published music by other composers.

Legacy 
During his life, people thought that Telemann was one of the greatest composers. Johann Sebastian Bach copied one of Telemann's violin concertos. Bach also arranged another one of Telemann's violin concertos. The arrangement is played on the harpsichord. 182 people bought the first edition of Telemann's Tafelmusik. This includes George Frideric Handel and Johann Joachim Quantz.

People in the 19th century thought that Telemann's music was bad. They thought his music was not serious. They thought his cantatas were not natural, too dramatic, and used bad text. However, this changed in the 20th century. People began to study Telemann's music again. His music is performed more often.

References

Other websites 

 
 A list of works by Telemann (in French)

1681 births
1767 deaths
Baroque composers
18th-century German composers
Multi-instrumentalists
People from Magdeburg