THE MAGIC OF TELEMANN March 14 + 16, 2021 PROGRAM NOTES THE MAGIC DISCOVERIES OF TELEMANN According to Georg Philipp Telemann, a composer should not write music Streamed Online mechanically, (“as if taking goods to the market”), but must discover the sound March 14 + 16, 2021 2,528th Concert possibilities of each instrument. Telemann went on to say that this will please the GBH’s Fraser Studio performer and composer; however, that pleasure extends to the listener as well. The works on today’s program show Telemann to be true to his word; moreover, the same can be said for the Violin Sonata in E Minor by his friend and violin vir- PROGRAM tuoso, Johann Georg Pisendel. Violin Sonata in E Minor, JunP IV.1 Johann Georg Pisendel Violin Sonata in E Minor, JunP IV.1 Largo (1687-1755) Johann Georg Pisendel (1687-1755) Moderato Scherzando Known as the best German violinist of his day, Johann Pisendel’s early musical Susanna Ogata, violin training and career path emulated that of other early 18th-century musicians: Guy Fishman, cello by the age of ten, Pisendel was singing in a court chapel (Ansbach) and his Ian Watson, harpsichord musical talent soon emerged in other areas (violin). He studied violin with the Italian virtuoso Giuseppe Torelli, who was working at the Ansbach court. In 1709, Fantasia for Solo Violin in E-flat Major, TWV 40:20 Georg Philipp Pisendel met J.S. Bach in Weimar while on his way to Leipzig, where he also met Dolce Telemann Telemann. Pisendel studied at the Leipzig University, but ultimately devoted his Allegro (1681-1767) time to mastering his instrument. His success in this was marked by numerous Largo performances and a job offer in Darmstadt, which he declined. Presto Aisslinn Nosky, violin In 1712, Pisendel accepted an offer with the prestigious Dresden court. (Telemann was offered and declined a position at the Dresden court a year earlier.) Initially Telemann Canonic Sonata No. 1 in G Major, TWV 40:118 hired as a violinist, Pisendel was named Konzertmeister (first violinist and leader Vivace of the orchestra) in 1730. He traveled extensively with the court, including a Adagio nine-month stay in Venice where he met and befriended Antonio Vivaldi. One Allegro account of Vivaldi’s regard for the virtuoso explains that while out walking Emi Ferguson, flute Aisslinn Nosky, violin together Vivaldi suddenly guided Pisendel to his house because he noticed they were being followed. Vivaldi asked his friend if he had done anything to arouse Paris Quartet No. 1 in G Major, TWV 43:G1 Telemann the suspicion of the city authorities. When Pisendel said no, Vivaldi investigated Grave – Allegro – Grave - Allegro further and discovered that Pisendel happened to look similar to someone the Largo authorities were investigating. Presto Largo On all of his travels, Pisendel collected scores to take back to Dresden. From Allegro Vivaldi, he received the manuscripts and subsequent dedications for five sonatas Emi Ferguson, flute and six concertos. Other composers dedicated works to him as well, including Susanna Ogata, violin Telemann, who wrote a violin concerto for Pisendel when the composer was Guy Fishman, cello visiting Dresden in 1719. Although he wrote only a few pieces, Pisendel’s Ian Watson, harpsichord contemporaries regarded his compositions as highly as his playing; his solo violin sonata is believed to have influenced J.S. Bach’s own music for unaccompanied violin. This program is made possible in part by the generous support of Judith and Menno Verhave. Pisendel’s Violin Sonata in E Minor shows his masterful technique as a composer as well as a performer. Unified by key, each movement is finely crafted, with dex- This program is dedicated to Joe Flynn on his terous lines for the violin that sometimes converse with the accompaniment, as retirement from Howland Capital Management. in the opening Largo, or take flight from it, as in the final movement, a whirlwind Scherzando. One particularly interesting technique is how Pisendel draws out This program is made possible in part by the generous the end of a movement. Just when we feel the movement is concluding, Pisendel support of the Massachusetts Cultural Council. inserts one more burst of musical energy before the actual conclusion is heard. 2 2020-21 STREAMING CONCERTS HANDELANDHAYDN.ORG 3 Fantasia for Solo Violin in E-flat Major, TWV 40:20 Unauthorized editions of his music being issued in Paris may be one reason why Canonic Sonata No. 1 in G Major, TWV 40:118 the composer decided to accept an invitation to visit that city in 1737. Paris Quartet No. 1 in G Major, TWV 43:G1 Georg Phillip Telemann (1681-1767) Before leaving on that trip, Telemann published a collection for solo violin. The four-movement Fantasia for Solo Violin in E-flat Major is the fifth of this set of With his father’s death when Telemann was only four years old, his mother twelve pieces. The title suggests a freedom associated with improvisation; worked to ensure that both her sons received a firm educational foundation. however, each work is carefully composed to highlight the flexibility of the violin Georg Phillip attended a school where courses in Latin and Greek fostered a life- and the virtuosity of the performer. As with other works for an instrument long pursuit of writing, literature, and poetry. Telemann’s interest in music began generally associated with playing a single line of music, Telemann invokes chords with singing lessons (and two weeks of organ lessons) when he was ten years by asking the violinist to alternate between low and high ranges and play two old. He then taught himself recorder, violin, and zither and soon began study- and three notes simultaneously (double and triple stops). ing composition by copying out the music of other composers before trying to write his own, including an opera when he was 12. In an attempt to discourage his Soon after arriving in Paris, Telemann secured the right to publish his works there musical activities, Telemann was, about this same time, sent to a different school. for the next 20 years, including the Canonic Sonata No. 1 in G Major, part of a The result was not what his mother had hoped; the superintendent of the new larger collection of canons titled XIIX Canons mélodieux. In its simplest mani- school introduced Telemann to studies in math and music, all while he continued festation, a canon, or round, creates a multi-textured composition from a single to compose. melodic idea. Knowing when subsequent parts enter is one aspect of performing a canon, as is determining when and how to end a piece that can, Telemann continued his studies at the Gymnasium Andreanum, a prominent theoretically, go on ad infinitum. Each of the four movements of Telemann’s so- school in Hildesheim where he graduated third in his class. He also composed for nata for unspecified instruments is a canon built on a single melody; in fact, there the school, learned more instruments, and traveled, which introduced him to the is only one line of music in the score. The melodies are complex and extended; latest styles of composition. for example, the melody of the first movement is 34 measure long. For each movement, Telemann indicates when the second part should enter and how the In 1701, Telemann went to the University of Leipzig to study law. Later in his life, movement should conclude. The variety of sounds that emerge may cause us to he offered two different reasons for the move. In his first autobiography (1718), forget that both violin and flute are playing the same notes with just a short he said he went to the university to please his mother. In his 1740 autobiography, time interval separating them. however, he said enrolled because he wanted a university education. No matter the reason, Telemann’s musical interests soon overshadowed everything else. A With the Paris Quartet No. 1 in G Major, from the collection entitled Nouveaux performance of his composition at St. Thomas’s Church led to a commission to quatuors and published about the same time as the Canonic Sonatas, Telemann write more church music. Soon after, Telemann founded the Leipzig Collegium synthesizes the various styles of composition prevalent in his day. Scored for Musicum, a group later led by Bach, and was made music director of Leipzig’s op- flute, violin, viola da gamba or cello and basso continuo, the Quartet in G Major era house. After leaving Leipzig four years later, Telemann took a series of other begins with a Grave/Allegro pairing and then proceeds to a series of character posts, including Konzertmeister at the Saxe-Eisenach court in 1708. It seems likely pieces or movements designed to evoke a particular mood. These are often in- that he met J.S. Bach during this time and by 1714, when Telemann stood as god- spired by dances, following the French style of composition. father for C.P.E. Bach, the two were certainly friends. Before his trip to Paris, Telemann published a collection for solo violin. The In 1721, Telemann was named cantor of Johanneum Lateinschule and director four-movement Fantasia for Solo Violin in E-flat Major is the fifth of this set of musicus in Hamburg and, although he held this post for the rest of his life, there twelve pieces. The title suggests a freedom associated with improvisation; how- was a point when he considered returning to Leipzig. When a position at St. ever, each work is carefully composed to highlight the flexibility of the violin and Thomas’s became available in 1722, Telemann applied and was the unanimous the virtuosity of the performer.