John Smyth was telling us about some fine cd's of instrumental music by
Vivaldi and Telemann.  Concerning Telemann, I also have much affection for
his instrumental music, but it's the vocal works which I really love.  I
believe that CPO and Capriccio have each issued a healty number of Telemann
vocal compositions; even Hanssler has been entering this field lately.  I
find that Telemann had a great gift composing for voice and orchestra.

John wrote:

>I've heard through the grapevine over the years, (though don't take me
>to task for it), that there is only Bach, maybe Handel, and then the other
>guys, including Vivaldi and Telemann--who just wrote the same
>thing 100's of times over.

I think that the writing the same thing hundreds of times was directed
only at Vivaldi and might have been a remark from Stravinsky.  The way I
perceive the "reputation" angle is that Bach, Handel, and Vivaldi are the
big three of Baroque music with Telemann one step down.  I used to buy cd's
of many baroque composers, then just Handel, Bach, Telemann, and Couperin.
Lately, it's all Bach with an occassional Handel vocal disc/set thrown in.
I may be getting more narrow about this, but the flip-side is greater
intensity.  I owe it all to being a Scorpio.  When I started dating my wife
in 1965, she told me that she was unlucky with other guys because they were
not focused or intense enough.  I just replied - "Your luck is about to
change", and I gave her a deep kiss to add emphasis to my words (that was
a great kiss).  One must seize the moment.

Don Satz
[log in to unmask]