The Hamburger Ratsmusik – an ensemble looking back on a five-hundred-year history – teams up with the young countertenor Benno Schachtner on this recording of Georg Philipp Telemann’s Six Moral Cantatas. During the decades between 1720 and 1750 the middle class of the early Enlightenment sought moral education and ethical improvement deriving from human nature and reason as part of its never-ending quest for earthly happiness. It was with wit and charm that in his Moral Cantatas of 1735 Telemann set to music a poetic document conveying the spirit of this Enlightenment period. His only recently rediscovered Fantasies for Solo Viola da Gamba, published at the same time, are presented here in alternation with his Moral Cantatas, the title with which they were announced in a catalogue dating from August 1735. These two collections first performed together during a concert of the Hamburger Ratsmusik at the last Telemann Festival are now being presented here for the first time. These two works by Telemann were intended for professional and amateur musicians alike, and they seem to have met with special resonance among those interested parties who wanted to perform at home in smaller ensembles.

Georg Philipp Telemann’s extant works for wind ensemble take us into the unique region between military music, hunting music, and court table music. However, these ensembles were active not only at the courts as part of the military staff but also influenced middle-class life in the towns through the garrisons stationed in them. Telemann was familiar with these ensembles both in the court and civic spheres, and about twenty works survive today in the characteristic wind instrumentation with woodwind instruments and a pair of horns, ten quintets of more than one movement, ten marches, and a wind version of the so-called Alter Overture TWV 55: F11. This album presents five Quintets for Two Oboes (or oboi d’amore), Two Horns, and Bassoon (thoroughbass) – interpreted by the L’Orfeo Baroque Ensemble, which was established in 2009 with members from the L’Orfeo Baroque Orchestra in order to apply the orchestra’s approach to the orchestral literature in the genuine dimensions of a chamber ensemble.

After Telemann had composed the “French Cycle,” he wrote his annual cycle for 1716/17 in the Italian style, the other style then current in the music world. This style is characterized by the “konzertierendes Prinzip,” that is, by the seemingly playful and relaxed but nonetheless finely organized treatment of motifs and themes manifesting itself in the instrumental concerto but also in the great opera aria. Telemann’s cycle in which he employed the stylistic elements developed in Italy was therefore termed the “Concerten-Jahrgang” and sometimes even the “Italian Cycle.” In 1716/17 Telemann composed and performed the church compositions from Advent to the Third Day of Pentecost. The second half of the annual cycle extending from Trinity Sunday to the end of the church year followed in 1719/20. The present release brings together four compositions, two from the first half of the annual cycle and two from the subsequently composed second half. The “konzertierendes Prinzip” is developed in different ways in each piece. This performance with the Mannheimer Hofkapelle and Ex Tempore under Florian Heyerick was one of the highlights of the Telemann Festival Days in 2016.

New chamber compositions by Telemann made available to the concert world by intensive research and in modern score editions form the focus of the Magdeburg Sunday Concerts, in German: the "Sonntagsmusiken." klassik. com described our first album with Advent and Christmas cantatas as "A treasure trove of brilliant sacred arias!" The arias on the second portion of this series involve pieces taken from "complete" sacred compositions and performed in Hamburg’s principal places of worship during the church year 1726-27. The two arias contained in a particular sacred composition were removed from their context for the purposes of publication. The Eisenach court secretary Johann Friedrich Helbig was the author of the texts for the church compositions and the arias included in them. Telemann packed a great deal into the concentrated aria space. We might say that he balanced the minimum of the ensemble with compositional intensity and complexity in respect of melodic formation as well as with the thematic design of the basses, forceful declamation and rhythmic scheme, and the large spectrum of keys and harmonic manifoldness.

The discovery of Telemann’s previously unknown Altona Jubel-Music von 1760 in an omnibus manuscript belonging to the Hamburg State and University Library but first returned in 1998 from Armenia, where it had been deposited for wartime safekeeping, is remarkable in several respects. »Already immediately after the first performance of the work in Altona’s principal church on 16 October 1760, an unknown reporter writing in the Altonaer Mercurius judged that it was ‘a superbly beautiful composition.’ And it is in fact a qualitatively outstanding composition ranking with the best that Telemann composed during his last years. One more top-quality work increases our knowledge of Telemann’s late oeuvre. Until a few years ago it was also not known to what an astonishing degree Telemann had been active as a composer in Altona (at least twelve festive compositions written from 1741 to 1764), which then belonged to Denmark, or that at the time there was even a noteworthy musical scene in Altona. The two-part composition consisting of sixteen numbers to the text of an unknown poet honors King Frederick V of Denmark on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the hereditary sovereignty of the Danish royal house« (Jurgen Neubacher, Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg).

The Magdeburg Sunday Concerts held ever since 1961 focus on chamber music. Not infrequently, as the present release likewise demonstrates, compositions by Telemann are featured and include works again made available for the everyday concert world in Magdeburg following intensive research investigations and the publication of modern score editions. From the 531st Sunday music concert, the GSOConsort led by the soprano and artistic director Gudrun Sidonie Otto now presents Advent cantata arias with a single vocal part and the continuo in a duet. These arias belong to a single annual cantata cycle published by Telemann from the end of 1726 to the end of 1727. They have been excerpted from church compositions designed with this option in mind, that is, the independent performance of the arias. Telemann revised the arias for publication; in particular, he worked on the precision of the ritornellos, shortening, redesigning, or rewriting them, or eliminated them entirely. Just how carefully the arias have been elaborated is shown both on the formal level and in what in part are complicated and unusual melodic, declamatory-rhythmical, and harmonic processes in an impressive spectrum of musical keys (Hirschmann, 2012). Telemann of course pays close attention to the verbal pictures, often also opposing ones, given in the texts – and does so in a most highly nuanced manner.

As Telemann revealed in his autobiography transmitted by Matheson, during his early years he had become acquainted with "Polish and Hanakian music in its genuine barbaric beauty" while traveling through Poland and had learned to love it. The contrast between folk music sometimes verging on rough simplicity and the court sphere was a source of inspiration and formed a welcome challenge stimulating this composer's talent. The overtures, trios and sonatas recorded for this release display more than virtuosity but are fun to perform and even more enjoyable to listen to.

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This new release from CPO is the sixth volume in the Telemann violin concerto series. This installment includes his Concerto in B-Flat Major, Concerto in A Minor, Concerto in F Major, and Concerto in B Minor. Elizabeth Wallfisch performs these works, along with her Wallfisch Band. Elizabeth Wallfisch is a known interpreter of 17th, 18th, and 19th century violin music. She also performs internationally as a concertmaster, soloist, and music director.

Following its dazzling, standard-setting eight-disc complete recording of Telemann's wind concerti, La Stagione here embarks on a new four-disc series dedicated to the same composer's concertos for mixed ensembles, taking us to the very heart of his oeuvre. Like Bach in his Brandenburg Concertos, concertizing by instrumental formations against the backdrop of an accompanying string orchestra evidently most greatly stirred Telemann's compositional imagination. It is with these works that the term “mixed style” unfolds in all its colorful glory.

• Miriways met with enthusiasm when rediscovered after 284 years in 2012. “That the score of Miriways...is such a...delight to hear owes...to the Austrian conductor Michi Gaigg and her L’Orfeo Baroque Orchestra...” (J. Gahre in Das Opernglas). Mir Wais was an Afghan tribal prince who led several revolts to liberate Kandahar from Persian rule, a very current political subject when staged in Hamburg in 1728, and now. Telemann’s music is colorful, lavishly instrumented, and richly Oriental in color.

Matthias Mutzenbecher was born in Kiel in 1653 and began his training as a merchant in Hamburg in 1669. He established his own business in 1678 and soon became a renowned member of the Hamburg populace: senator, colonel in the civic regiment, and even a magistrate. He was an important man and a patron of the city’s music director Georg Philipp Telemann. Only the best would suffice for the festive music on the occasion of the golden wedding anniversary of this highly esteemed and influential man in 1732. Since the life expectancy then was only about forty years, a golden wedding anniversary was a rare event. The festive day began with a sacred oratorio, and while it was being performed, the senator proceeded to the altar with his “dearest wedded wife” for the anniversary blessing. “The entire highly noble council was in attendance in their state regalia.” The ensuing festive banquet was held at the home of the couple’s eldest son. Here the serenata, the secular part of the wedding anniversary music, was performed. As the printed text states, it featured a »contention of the worldly blessings of the state of marriage heard to a table composition. If the oratorio may be said to convey a venerable sound picture with its trumpets and timpani, then the serenata unfolds its mirthful animation with a highly varied instrumentation. With this recording cpo adds yet another gem to its Telemann discovery trove.

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TELEMANN Funeral Music for Emperor Karl VII, Ich hoffete aufs Licht, TWV 4:13 • Michael Schneider, cond; Gabriele Hierdeis, Annegret Kleindopf (sop); Dmitry Egorov (ct); Ulrike Anderen (alt); Georg Poplutz, Benjamin Kirchner (ten); Nils Cooper, Stepha Schreckenberger (bs); La Stagione Frankfurt (period instruments) • CPO 777 603-2 (62:53 Text and Translation)


Here is another of what seems like a flurry of Georg Philipp Telemann’s occasional music composed for the city of Hamburg during his long tenure there. In 1745 the Holy Roman Emperor of the German Nation, Karl VII, died in Vienna. Since Austria and Prussia were in the middle of both the Silesian War and the War of the Austrian Succession, Karl, the erstwhile non-Hapsburg Elector of Bavaria, had seemed a decent compromise, and even though Hamburg was technically not part of the empire, it was a protected city due to its strategic importance as a northern port not dominated by archenemy Prussia. Therefore the city father felt obligated to celebrate Imperial events, and Telemann was certainly willing to oblige. The text chosen was by the chief pastor of St. Catherine’s Church, Joachim Zimmermann, and Telemann wrote the work in his usual manner, that is, quickly and efficiently.


The work is written in oratorio fashion in two parts based upon a combination of quotations from the Bible, newly written poetry, and an appropriate selection of chorales, all part and parcel of the normal Hamburg sacred musical text. For the composer, this was not extraordinary, but the convoluted performance circumstances, wherein the work was mixed in with normal church services, required him to hire extra musicians and to make do with a small chorus musicus of only eight singers, who performed both solo and choral roles. The music itself is vintage Telemann on the cusp of Empfindsamkeit and with hints of the Baroque peeking through. Throughout the work are several “dicta,” commentaries and prayers, which Telemann often sets in homophonic fashion. The second, “Die Güte des Herrn,” has a stern set of dotted rhythms in the strings that make the sometimes strange harmonic modulations more apparent, while the chorale tunes are both normal four-part settings or, as in “Uns lässet zwar,” suddenly appear from within the recitative, here to a continuo line that begins to walk with a steady eighth-note pace. There are moments where Telemann’s use of the orchestra is masterly, such as the soft lyrical line for alto (with choral punctuations) “Lasst uns klagen” with the timpani beating a funereal comma even as the piece winds along in a major key. Telemann’s arias, such as “Die ihr auf unbekannte Wellen” with fits and starts, swirling strings, and clarion trumpets, or “Melde, gewognes Gerüchte,” which was reused in the oratorio Tage des Gerichts , are filled with the contrasting dynamics, rhythmic-motivic structures, and textures of the early Empfindsamkeit ; indeed, they could all have been written by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Telemann’s successor some two decades later. Even the recitatives weave in and out of accompagnato, making the text flow together. The final chorus, “O du Volk vom teutschen Samen,” is a verse and refrain, and although there is a chorale-like cantus firmus for one of the verses, the expected counterpoint is missing entirely, making the work more intimate.


Michael Schneider’s direction keeps the tempos moving along and the performance crisp. The eight-member soloist-chorus sounds at times much larger, but the voices are equally adept at their solo numbers. Nils Cooper’s bass, in particular, has that nice, light German sound that I find particularly attractive in Telemann’s (and Bach’s) music. The recording is, as always with cpo, well staged and the sound clear. This is clearly a work that anyone who fancies Telemann ought to have in their collection, for it shows that the composer was talented and able to bridge styles, occasions, and requirements with ease.


FANFARE: Bertil van Boer


La Stagione Frankfurt with Michael Schneider have a good history of inspiring, original and stimulating performances of music from the High/Late Baroque period - particularly that of Telemann. Here they are again with that composer's Trauermusic für Kaiser Karl VII [TVWV 4:13], 'Funeral music on the death of Emperor Charles VII'. The CD is part of CPO’s 'Musica sacra Hamburgensis 1600-1800' series; it's a rarity which has much to recommend it.

The emperor's death in 1745 was a significant event for (the citizens of) Hamburg … he had offered protection against a number of potential and actual enemies. Arrangements for formal and elaborate ceremonies marking his death were expedited quickly. So what we have on this CD is music originally written for a specific occasion in the middle of the north German eighteenth century. But its beauty, sobriety and delicate restraint can speak to us now. Especially when performers as experienced and insightful expose and embrace the idiom of Telemann so well.

The Hamburg City Council commissioned Telemann to write funeral music to texts by Joachim Johann Zimmermann (1710-1767), who had already proved himself with equivalents for the emperor's own coronation and his predecessor's funeral. What we have here is an amalgam of free poetry, Biblical material and hymns. It's divided into two parts of roughly equal length - one to be performed either side of a sermon. Its tone is as much about expressing concern for an uncertain future as a panegyric on the dear departed.

Somehow Telemann conveys the anguish relating to the threat which an uncertain future held as much as the grief at the emperor's death. He dos this not by writing music that's tentative or insipid. Instead this is achieved through using modulations of key and trills, specific voice and instrument combinations and musical phrasing that would perhaps indicate impatience in other contexts. Here they are somewhat unsettling … the soprano recitative, Du bleibst indessen [tr. 20], for instance. The contradiction between words ("you are constant") and melodic and textural wavering is an odd one; but it nevertheless successfully adds to the unpredictability of the situation.

Several aspects of the music stand out: the use of a rather prominent drum at key moments - recorded very forward; and some striking chromatic passages - in the Dictum for chorus, Meine Harfe ist [tr.13], for example. Instrumentation is interesting: muted, shady and reserved; not at all grand nor yet lugubrious. La Stagione Frankfurt respects and breathes full life into this highly nuanced set of atmospheres and allusive writing. They are aided by the variety of compositional forms - arias of types, chorales, recitatives and choral interpositions - which Telemann uses. Rarely do such contrasts really call for flourishes. When they do come - as in the short choral Dictum, Ach daß müssen [tr 25] - Schneider and his forces afford them all the more impact. Otherwise one is struck by the level, even-tempered, though no less vigorous and definite pace and 'attack' delivered by soloists, choir and instrumentalists.

The mildness and sense of having all expression, developmental lines and partnerships between text and music well within these musicians' grasp is matched by a quiet and purposeful energy throughout this hour long performance. There are single memorable moments - the final chorus, O Du Volk [tr. 29], for instance. But one is left with a more general feeling of music written for an occasion about which we cannot possibly have the strength of sentiment that contemporaries evidently did. Yet this touches us with its graceful observance of the complex public feelings and slightly suppressed hope for the future. This, by its very nature is more generalised, in music that's thoughtful, yet almost extrovert.

The booklet that comes with the CD contains much useful background information, the text in German and English, and details of the performers - though it is set in an almost impossibly small font size. The acoustic is clear and aids our understanding of the equally clean and unruffled articulation of the text by the eight soloists of La Stagione Frankfurt.

Each issue in the series, 'Musica sacra Hamburgensis 1600-1800', has been worth a close look. Ich hoffete aufs Licht is no exception. Schneider and his group make music with real style; yet never overstate their case. A rarely-heard work from Telemann's canon, of which there is no other recording available, this may not be ground-breaking Baroque at its unique best. Even so, it has a lot going for it.

-- Mark Sealey, MusicWeb International

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