Steve Schwartz wrote:

> Telemann preceded Bach as Kapellmeister in Leipzig, and more
> than one burgher had complained, on hiring Bach, that the city
> had settled for a mediocrity - making Telemann's departure
> all the more bitter.

Telemann had established a Collegium Musicum in Leipzig at the
beginning of the 18th Century, and at the beginning of his career, long
before Bach arrived there.  He later took important posts in Frankfurt
and Hamburg.  In 1722 the Leipzig town council did elect Telemann as
Cantor in Leipzig, but he actually turned down the position, which then
went to Bach.

> Telemann combined a solid technique with great wit...  The wit,
> of course, comes through to this day, as well as a modern taste
> for the "barbaric" and the exotic.

In addition to the examples Steve reviews, a particularly delicious
instance of this occurs in the "Concert of Frogs and Crows" in his Alster
Overture, especially as performed by Philip Pickett and the New London
Consort, where an outrageous raucousness is brought out to the fullest.

I have long loved Telemann's very pleasurable music.  I have also long
been frustrated by the absence of any kind of numerical ordering of his
works on recordings.  He wrote a great many concertos and suites, and
they are mostly designated by key signature and instrumentation, which
is generally not enough to tell you whether you are offered the same or
a different work from another with the same bare description.

Jim Tobin

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