Active Years: 1681-1767

Position: German Baroque composer

Career Highlights: The Paris Quartets, Suite for Flute and Strings, Don Quixote Suite, Concertos for Two Instruments

Career Totals: 1700 church cantatas, six oratorios, over fifty solo cantatas, nine operas, over one hundred and twenty overtures, over forty-seven concertos, over one hundred trio sonatas, over fifty quintets, many fugues, preludes, and other keyboard works, many other vocal and instrumental works.

Scouting Report: In his day, Telemann was the most famous composer in Germany — far more famous than Bach. He was one of the most prolific composers who ever lived. His music is less complex than Bach’s and not as animated as Vivaldi’s, but it has a warmth and character that is all its own. Much of Telemann’s best work is permeated with a sense of humor. Today, he is sometimes disparaged and dismissed because we have decided that Bach was a greater composer. Baroque enthusiasts know better. Thanks to the early music revival, we can listen to Telemann on his own terms. We can hear him as a composer who wrote music that was meant to be enjoyable in its own day, and is still enjoyable in ours.

Teammates and Contemporaries: Bach, Vivaldi, Handel, Scarlatti, and Telemann dominate the musical repertoire we have inherited from the first half of the 18th century.

Fun Fact: When Telemann was the director of music at Hamburg, his job description called for two new cantatas every week, and a Passion and an oratorio once a year. In his spare time, he directed a private musical organization and wrote for the opera.