10056 – Burlesque de Don Quixote

Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)

Arranged by Roger Harvey

Difficulty: Medium

Price: £30.00

Programme notes:
Telemann is reckoned to be the most prolific of the great composers with at least 3000 works to his name. He is mostly associated with his role in the musical life of Hamburg.
In 1721, he secured the post of Kantor of the Hamburg Johanneum. This brought responsibilities for teaching and the directorship of Hamburg's five principal churches, He was required to compose two cantatas a week, a new Passion annualy, and to provide occasional works for church and civil ceremonies.
Telemann remained in Hamburg until his death in 1767, being succeeded in that position by his godson, C. P. E. Bach, son of Johann Sebastian.
Telemann traveled widely during his time at Hamburg, making many trips to Berlin where he was exposed to strains of Polish music imported from the East, and to Paris in 1737 where he absorbed much of the French idiom then current.
While he had remarkable facility in any musical medium, he showed particular flare in the composition of orchestral suites—the Ouverture and its succession of dance movements, which originated with Lully in France but which was in fact cultivated almost exclusively by German composers. By 1740 Telemann estimated that he had already composed six hundred suites, only about a quarter of which have survived.

Don Quixote, an influential novel in 2 parts by Cervantes was published in 1605 and 1615. Its characters have inspired many works of art in succeding times.
It is said that Telemann's fame and success as the foremost musician in Germany were due in part to his sense of humour and likable personality. These charteristics are evident in this suite of good-natured and musically imaginative movements. They are, in fact, an early attempt at programme music.

Performance notes:
The 1st trumpet player will require a small trumpet (E flat ).
The 4th trumpet player will require a flugel.

In general the style should be light, assuring a clear texture and good balance. However, there are some musical effects that will benefit from a more extrovert performance style.

Numerous editorial stylistic suggestion have been made as a stylistic starting point and to save time in rehearsals but the performers should feel free to adjust any of them to suit their own performance preferences.

In general the expression markings should be played as follows:
Staccato dots - lightly articulated with a little space between notes.
Breath commas - these are to show phrasing and should not be over-exaggerated.
Accent and dot - firm articulation but also lifted
Tenuto line - a heavier, emphasised articulation.