Concerti for Wind Instruments

“Wherever did you find the time?” Matthessohn asked the aged Telemann. “How could anybody compose so much music in a single lifetime?” Over the course of the centuries such amazement turned to censure. Stravinsky once condemned Vivaldi by saying he had composed a single concerto and that all his other works were variations. Telemann was likewise indelibly stamped by some music historian or other who said he had written so many works he deserved to be labelled a “hack”. Stravinsky’s pronouncement has meanwhile been proven unjustified, but Telemann’s reputation can still use a little revaluation.

Part of the problem is that Johann Sebastian Bach enjoyed a revival much earlier than Telemann. Mendelssohn began re-performing Bach’s great Passions back in the 1830. Bach’s complete oeuvre was republished during the course of the 19th century and because Bach is such a good composer, he subsequently overshadowed all of his contemporaries.

Things were rather different during their lifetime. Matthessohn (1681-1764) declared the following: “Lulli is getting praised, Corelli enjoys applause, but Telemann alone is beyond all praise and lauds.”