"Mystery of Creativity" Music and Musings
The urge for a composer to transcribe what they hear in the head and put it down on paper can sometimes take years, months, weeks or days. When it happens, they cannot help themselves. They have to immediately begin to capture what they are hearing. This was the case for the priest/composer Antonio Vivaldi who would leave a Mass he was saying to go back into the sacristy to put notes down on a piece of paper – he did come back to finish the Mass. Then there was Mozart who always had his quill, ink and paper at the ready because he would suddenly hear an entire symphony in his head. He would immediately put that music down on paper, sometimes in the middle of writing another piece.
There was one composer who was constantly hearing and writing music. He is believed to be the most prolific composer of any musical era. His name is Georg Philipp Telemann, yet he was almost forgotten.
Telemann was born in Magdeburg, Germany on March 14, 1681. His father was a deacon. His mother was the daughter of a clergyman. There is no evidence either parent was musically inclined; however, Telemann would claim his love of music came from his mother.
His father died when Georg was four years old. Sometime before his 10th birthday, he was enrolled in school where he was taught catechism, Latin and Greek. At age 10, he took singing and keyboard lessons while at school. At this time, he also taught himself how to play the recorder, violin, zither and learned how to compose arias and motets. At age 12, he composed his first opera, Sigismundus. His mother was not pleased as her hope was that Georg become a lawyer. She confiscated all his musical instruments and forbade him from any further musical activities. She could not, thankfully, confiscate his mind and so he began to compose in secret. His mother moved him to another school in the hope of getting him to focus on studies for something that would earn him a good income. At this new school, it didn’t take long for the superintendent to realize Telemann’s talents and he was soon enrolled in a music theory class. Here Telemann would teach himself the musical notation of thoroughbass and began writing music for the church choir and musicians.
At age 16, he was moved again. He was enrolled in the Gymnasium Andreanum. The rector immediately recognized Telemann’s abilities and commissioned him to write music for him. At Andreanum, Telemann taught himself the flute, oboe, chalumeau (an early clarinet), viola da gamba, double bass, and bass trombone. He was also an accomplished baritone singer.
At age 20, Telemann suddenly yielded to his mother’s desire for him to be a lawyer and packed his bags for Leipzig University. A chance meeting with the 16-year-old George Frideric Handel at this time drew him back into music. Telemann’s roommate at Leipzig found his musical setting of Psalm 6 and encouraged Telemann to have it played. The piece was such a rousing success, the mayor of Leipzig commissioned him to write music for the two main churches: Thomaskirche and Nikolaikirche. Georg Philipp Telemann, Esq. would never be although his friendship with Handel would always be.
At age 26 he would meet the 22-year old Johann Sebastian Bach. Their friendship, too, would be lifelong. Their friendship was so strong that Telemann would become the godfather of CPE Bach. Fast forward into Telemann’s 30’s, he was one of the most popular composers in Europe. He was Kappelmeister in the cities of Eisenach and Frankfurt. While in Frankfurt, he married the 16-year old daughter of the city clerk ; she died 15 months after their marriage while giving birth to their daughter. He married again and fathered seven sons and one daughter. This marriage ended ten years later when this wife ran off with a Swedish military officer. She left Telemann with her heavy gambling debts which he paid off. Telemann continued to care for his children, take care of his duties as Kappelmeister and still find time to compose.
Fast forward again to 40’s where he is now in Hamburg. He was both the Kantor and the musical director of the city’s principal churches with the understanding he was to write two cantatas for every Sunday and a new Passion setting annually for four years, all while still writing for other liturgical or civic events. Telemann held this position for nearly 40 years. He also accepted the directorship of the Hamburg Opera – a position he held for 16 years!
Not only did he have a head for writing music, he was one of the first composers to publish his own music which helped offset the lack of pay he was receiving for all he was doing in Hamburg. When the position of Kappelmeister became vacant in Leipzig, Telemann got permission from Hamburg officials to apply for this prestigious and better paying position. He was one of six candidates who applied. When he received an offer to come to Leipzig, Telemann used this offer to obtain a pay raise from Hamburg. With his pay increase safely in hand, he declined the position in Leipzig. It was then offered to their second candidate–who also turned them down. The position was offered to the third candidate, Johann Sebastian Bach–and thus began the magnificent career of JS Bach.
Telemann wrote three autobiographies in 1718, 1729 and 1740. He was a poet and published books of poems as well as a satiric novel. He discovered the joys of gardening. His friend Handel would often send him crates of exotic flowers. In his later years, with his eyesight beginning to deteriorate, Telemann began to scale back on composing for the study of music theory instead. When one son died, Telemann began to raise his grandson and teach him music. He did continue to compose until his death at the age of 86 in 1767. Years later, when his compositions were catalogued, the number of pieces he created was staggering–over 3,000 that we know of because, like Johann Sebastian Bach, so much has been lost or destroyed.
While Telemann was the shining star of his time, and in the years following his death, his works were performed less and less because they were deemed to be not up to the caliber of Handel and Bach. The last noted performance of a piece by Telemann was in 1832. His music was not discovered again until the 1920’s. Just as his music was coming out of hibernation, World War II and the bombing of Germany destroyed most of his manuscripts and, perhaps, whatever pieces of music were lying about in someone’s attic, cellar, library shelf or church office. Bombings do not discriminate.
There was one bit of this Telemann life story that gave me chills as I was reading about this man. Remember the part when he yielded to his mother’s wishes to go to Leipzig to become a lawyer? Seeing this, God must have sat with his chin in his hands and wonder, “What is he doing?” as he watched Telemann. I can’t help but wonder if it was the intervention of Divine providence that brought about Telemann’s meeting the 16-year old Handel to get him back where he belonged.