Georg Philipp Telemann was born in Magdeburg, the son
of a Lutheran deacon who died in 1685, leaving the
mother to raise their three children alone. The youth
showed remarkable talent in music, but was temporarily
discouraged in his chosen pursuit by Puritan Lutherans,
who told Telemann's mother that he would turn out no
better than "a clown, a tightrope walker or a
marmot-trainer." In opposition to his mother's wishes,
Telemann continued to study in secrecy until she
relented, allowing him to t...(+)
Georg Philipp Telemann was born in Magdeburg, the son
of a Lutheran deacon who died in 1685, leaving the
mother to raise their three children alone. The youth
showed remarkable talent in music, but was temporarily
discouraged in his chosen pursuit by Puritan Lutherans,
who told Telemann's mother that he would turn out no
better than "a clown, a tightrope walker or a
marmot-trainer." In opposition to his mother's wishes,
Telemann continued to study in secrecy until she
relented, allowing him to train under the highly
respected Kantor Benedict Christiani, at the Old City
School. Outside of some early lessons in reading
tablature, Telemann was self-taught and was capable of
playing the flute, violin, viola da gamba, oboe,
trombone, double bass, and several keyboard
instruments. Telemann began to write music from
childhood, producing an opera, Sigismundus, by age
12.
Tafelmusik (German: literally, "table-music") is a term
used since the mid-16th century for music played at
feasts and banquets. Often the term was also used as a
title for collections of music, some of which was
intended to be so used. The function was displaced in
the late 18th century by the divertimento, and its
importance soon diminished, but it was revived and
partially restored in the vocal genre of the
Liedertafel by Carl Friedrich Zelter beginning in 1809,
and male-voice choral societies describing themselves
by this name continued the practice until the mid-20th
century.
The Tafelmusik or Musique de Table by Telemann is
perhaps his most celebrated collection of music.
Composed in 1733, Telemann's Tafelmusik has been
compared as a collection to the renowned Brandenburg
concertos of Johann Sebastian Bach in clearly
demonstrating the composer’s supreme skill in
handling a diversity of musical genres and a variety of
instruments.
Tafelmusik could be either instrumental, vocal, or
both. As might be expected, it was often of a somewhat
lighter character than music for other occasions.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tafelmusik ).
Although originally composed for Oboes, Strings &
Continuo, I created this Interpretation of the
"Overture Suite in Bb Major" (TWV 55:B1) the "Ouverture
Tafelmusik" for Bb Clarinet & Strings (2 Violins, Viola
& Cello).
