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In Telemann's
endlessly abundant output of
compositions, still hardly
scrutinized and hardly
assessable today, the
chamber music works occupy a
special place by virtue of
their number, quality and
historical significance. His
contemporaries already
thought he “had shown his
best powers” in chamber
music; the trio sonata in
the French tradition first
became established in
Germany through him more
than anyone else. By giving
preference to an
instrumental bass of singing
character as it were, “in
natural melody", with
clearly defined periods
built out of small-scale
elements adapted for serious
chamber music from dance
music, and a melodic style
closely approaching folk
music and at the same time
easy to follow and saturated
with . expression, he played
a considerable part in the
replacing of the strict late
baroque style by the
‘galant’ style. The sonatas
on this record are also
‘galant’, lightly
constructed, elegant and yet
not in the least
superficial, and in them
French, Italian and German
traditional elements are
blended with one another
with playful and masterly
elegance.
Telemann's „Der getreue
Music-Meister”, from which
four of the sonatas recorded
on this disc are taken, was
published in Hamburg in 1728
as a fortnightly series of
“lessons” for collection
that was to contain “for
singers as well as for
instrumentalists all sorts
of musical pieces... moral,
operatic and other arias,
likewise trios, duets, solos
etc., sonatas, overtures
etc. and also fugues,
counterpoints, canons etc.
...“ In order to stimulate
sales, most of the works in
several movements were
spread out over several
issues. The “Essercizii
Musici overo Dodeci Soli e
Dodeci Trii a diversi
stromenti ...“ (also
published in Hamburg after
1720) were, in contrast to
this highly unusual (and not
very successful) type of
publication for its time, a
“normal” publication in the
style of the epoch.
With the exception of the
Sonata in F major, the
sonatas in the
“Music-Meister” adhere to
the traditional
four-movement form of the
Sonata da chiesa (slow -
quick - slow - quick); their
movements are altogether
quite short, strictly binary
in form with repeat marks in
the fast tempi and freely
binary in the slow. The
small dimensions and the
forceful, telling themes are
anything but signs of
musical primitiveness, as is
clearly shown by altogether
careful craftsmanship in the
interior of the movements.
The continuo bass part takes
up motif material from the
melody part on a quite
unusual scale, particularly
in slow tempi, and in this
feature, as also in the
generally very dense texture
of the writing in
combination with
concentrated brevity of form
and rational simplicity of
expression, the didactic
intention of the work also
becomes clearly evident. The
sonatas from the
“Essercizii“ display less
craftsmanship in the smaller
details, but their
dimensions are larger, their
technical demands greater
and their expression more
profound. They are clearly
intended for “connoisseurs”
and professional musicians,
whereas the works of the
“Music-Meister” have been
created with an eye to an
amateur public capable of
and interested in musical
education, in other words
principally for the
music-lover interested in
music-making at home.
The Sonata in F major is
completely under the
influence of Vivaldi's type
of concerto and sonata, both
in its three-movement form
and in its series of brief,
graphically concentrated
motifs. The Largo
(Sarabande) and Finale
(Gigue) display an
unmistakeable dance
character which is again
underlined in the form by
binary structure with repeat
marks, even in the slow
movement.
The Sonata in F minor was
primarily intended for the
bassoon; in the printed
edition, however, Telemann
has noted: “This solo can
also be played on the flûte
à bec”. In accordance with
its key, it is an unusually
serious, highly chromatic
work; the second movement,
unlike most of the quick
movements of these sonatas,
has been laid out as a “da
capo aria” rich in thematic
material.
The Sonata in C major begins
with a movement most unusual
in its form - a short Adagio
introduction followed by a
virtuoso Allegro in toccata
style; the two sections are
repeated. The second
movement is a Siciliano full
of powerful feeling, the
third a merry Allegro in
binary form.
The Sonata in B flat major
can be played optionally on
the recorder, the flute, the
viola or the gamba. All four
movements have been
constructed as strict canons
at the octave between the
melody part and the continuo
bass; in spite of these
formal fetters the character
of the individual movements
- the dignity of the slow
tempi and the dance-like
playfulness of the fast ones
- is able to develop quite
unhindered.
The Sonata in D minor leads
up into darker regions of
emotion, above all in the
first movement with its
abruptly torn off single
notes, its sighing motifs
and its dignified leaps; the
fast movements - the second
with typical concerto themes
in the style of Vivaldi and
the last a virtuoso Gigue -
brighten up the serious mood
through their playfulness.
The Sonata in C major is
full of uncommon virtuosity
in its quick movements; the
slow movements, especially
the introductory Cantabile,
reveal a ‘galant’, sensitive
melodic style of vocal
character whose simple
beauty already belongs to a
more modern era than the
baroque style.
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