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.
Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a
composer against his family's wishes. After studying in
Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hildesheim, Telemann entered
the University of Leipzig to study law, but eventually
settled on a career in music. He held important
positions in Leipzig, Sorau, Eisenach, and Frankfurt
before settling in Hamburg in 1721, where he became
musical director of that city's five main churches.
While Telemann's career prospered, his personal life
was always troubled: his first wife died less than two
years after their marriage, and his second wife had
extramarital affairs and accumulated a large gambling
debt before leaving him. As part of his duties, he
wrote a considerable amount of music for educating
organists under his direction. This includes 48 chorale
preludes and 20 small fugues (modal fugues) to
accompany his chorale harmonisations for 500 hymns. His
music incorporates French, Italian, and German national
styles, and he was at times even influenced by Polish
popular music. He remained at the forefront of all new
musical tendencies, and his music stands as an
important link between the late Baroque and early
Classical styles. The Telemann Museum in Hamburg is
dedicated to him.
Telemann wrote the present three pieces taken from his
“Der getreue Music-Meister”, as domestic music for
two instruments. With his keen practical sense he kept
the range and technical difficulty within such limits
as would permit the greatest possible number of
different instrumental combinations to perform the
pieces. By means of different clef signs he made it
possible to allot to the individual instruments the
keys most suitable to them.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Telemann,_Georg_Philip
p).
Although originally created for 2 Flutes/Recorders, I
created this Arrangement of the Duet in Bb Major (TWV
40:107) for Marimba Duet.
SHEET MUSIC