Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)

12 Fantasias for Violin without Bass, TWV 40:14-25- Fantasia number one in B flat, Largo
Published in 1735.
On-line score: https://imslp.org/wiki/12_Fantasias_for_Violin_without_Bass,_TWV_40:14-
25_(Telemann,_Georg_Philipp)

On-line performance: https://www.nml3.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/CRC3607

Georg Philipp Telemann is one of the most prolific composers of all time and was considered the
most renowned in the early 1700s. He was situated by his contemporaries to be one of the
leading German composers of the Baroque, writing sacred and secular music but known mostly
for his church compositions. Telemann was one of the composers that shaped a connection
between the Baroque style and Galant style that directed to the Classical period.
He was the son of a Protestant family with a good standard education, but never received music
lessons. At an early age, he showed a lot of musical talent, but he was discouraged by his family
from becoming a professional musician. He acquired great facility in composing and playing
diverse musical instruments such as the violin, oboe, viola da gamba, and clavier among others
by self-teaching.
Telemann composed twelve violin Fantasias published in 1735, possibly fifteen years after the
appearance of the Sonatas and Partitas for unaccompanied violin by Johann Sebastian Bach. It is
not known if Bach´s Sonatas and Partitas for unaccompanied violin were known for Telemann
before composing his solo violin works, but he surely shared a concern to prove how a simple
solo instrument could play polyphonic music and large forms, and how expressive this could be.
The first Fantasie No. 1 in B-flat major is a three-movement dance form: Sarabande, Toccata,
and Sarabande. Telemann composed this Largo movement mostly as a single voice with sporadic
double stops and chords providing rhythmic and harmonic emphasis depending on the
interpretation of the performer. This is notable in the first twelve measures with an ambiguity
about if the emphasis should be in the first bit or in the second as a Sarabande. The signature of
this movement is a 3/4 . After the fist twelve measures its clearer that the natural assentation is in
the first bit.
It is notable that Telemann had a simple theme shown at the beginning of this Fantasia that he
elaborated on, varied, and developed. He did this harmonically and rhythmically giving to the
performer many possibilities of expressivity, playing with elements such as rhythmical
accentuation lasting more or less time in some special notes depending on the harmony and the
polyphony in a solo instrument such as the baroque violin.