Georg Philipp Telemann was born in Magdeburg, the son
of a Lutheran deacon who died in 1685, leaving the
mother to raise their three children alone. The youth
showed remarkable talent in music, but was temporarily
discouraged in his chosen pursuit by Puritan Lutherans,
who told Telemann's mother that he would turn out no
better than "a clown, a tightrope walker or a
marmot-trainer." In opposition to his mother's wishes,
Telemann continued to study in secrecy until she
relented, allowing him to t...(+)
Georg Philipp Telemann was born in Magdeburg, the son
of a Lutheran deacon who died in 1685, leaving the
mother to raise their three children alone. The youth
showed remarkable talent in music, but was temporarily
discouraged in his chosen pursuit by Puritan Lutherans,
who told Telemann's mother that he would turn out no
better than "a clown, a tightrope walker or a
marmot-trainer." In opposition to his mother's wishes,
Telemann continued to study in secrecy until she
relented, allowing him to train under the highly
respected Kantor Benedict Christiani, at the Old City
School. Outside of some early lessons in reading
tablature, Telemann was self-taught and was capable of
playing the flute, violin, viola da gamba, oboe,
trombone, double bass, and several keyboard
instruments. Telemann began to write music from
childhood, producing an opera, Sigismundus, by age
12.
Even in a quite cosmopolitan body of work, Georg
Philipp Telemann's Suite for flute and strings in A
minor (which can also be played on the recorder) stands
out for its prolific sampling of the various musics
known to the composer. It contains a pair of French
minuets, two passepieds from Brittany, a Polish
polonaise, and an "Air à l'italienne." For good
measure, Telemann throws in two quasi-illustrative
movements, describing "Les plaisirs" and a
"Réjouissance," respectively. All that was left was to
write an overture to bookend the suite, and Telemann
had another work to enhance his pan-European reputation
for inventive use of the orchestra, consummate
technical skill, and felicitous imagination. That
overture, which begins and closes the suite, is in the
French style; its opening slow section features the
long-short snap rhythm prominently and has a
processional feel about it due partly to the unison
playing of flute and strings for most of its length.
The tempo soon rushes forward with a new theme,
introduced in a fugato in the strings; the flute then
elaborates upon this theme, supported by a bare violin
line or by the continuo. The overture closes with the
customary altered and abbreviated repeat of the slow
section.
The movements that follow explore different rhythms,
affects, and relationships between flute and orchestra,
all with great success. Some take the traditional model
of introducing a theme in the strings and letting the
flute make virtuoso fireworks with it -- for example
"Les plaisirs," the two minuets, and the polonaise. The
polonaise, in particular, is notable for the way the
flute picks up the stately melody given by the strings
and whirls like a dervish around the it, plays tense,
quick repeated notes, and finally settles into dramatic
cascades. The melody may be the same, but the feeling
is as different as can be. Other movements let the
flute introduce new material, as in the Passepied I &
II and the Air à l'italienne; the latter has the flute
both elaborating on a melancholy, sighing melody and
inserting a section of exuberant piping before the
altered repeat of the first section. And the
"Réjouissance" features the flute in dialogue, as both
soloist and orchestra race around in visceral rushes of
sixteenth notes trying to capture their mutual joy.
This diversity of styles and means fits well the
template of a suite, but the unifying intelligence
behind all of them is definitely that of Telemann.
Source: Allmusic
(http://www.allmusic.com/composition/overture-suite-for
-recorder-or-flute-strings-continuo-in-a-minor-twv-55a2
-mc0002658223).
Although originally composed for Recorder Strings and
Continuo, I created this Arrangement for Flute &
Strings (2 Violins, Viola & Cello).
PARTITION