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The Double Reed Archaeologist
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Chamber Music and Concertos for Oboists
and Bassoonists
Charles-David Lehrer, General
Editor
No. 68. Georg Philipp Telemann:
Tafelmusik III Solo:
Oboe, Bassoon & Harpsichord
The year 1733 saw the appearance in print from Hamburg of
Georg Philipp Telemann's (1681-1767) famous Musique de Table
or Banquet Music. Nowadays, most people have long forgotten that in the Baroque
Era, people of means had musicians at their disposal to play for any occasion,
and daily meals were no exception. In our day, we operate differently: pop
several CD's into the player, turn on the amplifier, and suddenly Ella Fitzgerald
is serenading us at dinner to the music of Duke Ellington!
Telemann supplied a great deal of repertory in his Musique de Table. In
fact, there are three productions, each containing an ouverture coupled with
a partita of several dances, a quartet, a concerto, a trio sonata, and a
solo sonata, all capped off by concluding music. The entirety of this music
can be found in full score in volumes 61 and 62 of Denkmäler deutscher
Tonkunst.
The present work before us is one of the three solo sonatas, this one for
oboe and Fondamento in G Minor. It is properly classified as a Sonata da
Camera [Chamber Sonata]. Telemann does not specify the continuo instruments,
but bassoon and harpsichord are a perfect match for the oboe.
The opening Siciliano is initiated by the continuo. Its line contains the
motive from which the remainder of the rather languid movement will be generated.
It is a perfect example of a usage that the music theorist Johann Mattheson
describes in Der vollkommene Capellmeister (1739) under the term Affeketenlehre.
The oboist will need to apply light delicate ornamentation to this movement.
The following quick movement is laid out as a rather large da capo aria.
The ‘A’ section follows the expected ritornello form. Its ‘B’
section is set in contrasting triple meter and in the parallel major as befits
its pastorale leanings. In keeping with bel canto tradition, when the soloist
returns to the ‘A’ section, elaborate ornamentation should be
applied. The cadenza, itself, should be extended beyond the single measure
that I have supplied, to several measures in order to demonstrate the full
range of the instrument and its dynamic and technical possibilities.
The third movement, in the relative major, is quite brief. This movement
should be treated to additional ornamentation. For the most part, those ornaments
which are traditionally represented by stenographic symbols will suffice;
that is to say, expertise in florid ornamentation is not a major requirement
for bringing this or the first movement to life.
A lively binary form featuring syncopation brings this wonderful solo to
an end.
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