Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767) was considered the greatest German composer of the first half of the 18th century … until the more objective lens of history was given a few centuries to consider J.S. Bach’s music. Nonetheless, Telemann was incredibly prolific, writing among other things about 40 operas, 46 Passions, and five complete cycles of cantatas. At its best, the music of Telemann has a right melodiousness foreshadowing that of Haydn and Mozart.
Born at Magdeburg to an affluent middle-class family, Telemann went against family tradition, choosing to study music over service in the clergy. Pressed by his father to study law instead, Telemann went to the University of Leipzig in 1701, but once his musical abilities were discovered, it was impossible for him to do anything else. He founded the Collegium Musicum, a society that gave public concerts which Bach later directed, and became a widely respected organist. Telemann left Leipzig in 1705 for positions in Sorau and Eisenach, but settled for nine years (1712-1721) into a position as Music Director of the city of Frankfurt. He moved to Hamburg in 1722 to become cantor and take charge of the music at the five principal churches in the city, and remained there until his death, when he was succeeded by his godson, C.P.E. Bach.
Telemann’s Concerto Grosso in D Major, TWV54:D3, features two oboes and three trumpets as the solo instruments. The trumpet parts were written for the valveless predecessor of the modern trumpet, called a “natural trumpet,” which was a notoriously difficult and physically demanding instrument to play. Even the modern piccolo trumpets have little impact on the extreme demands of range and tessitura often employed by Baroque composers. Employing a grand “intrada” to begin the piece and a short slow section to transition to the body of the work, the rest of the concerto is a typical Italian fast-slow-fast form. Here, however, it is the counterpoint, the innovative scoring, and the virtuosic technical displays by all of the soloists that make the piece special, both in the context of Telemann’s output and in the entire Baroque repertoire.