This is a list of the operas of the German composer Georg Philipp Telemann (1681–1767).
Georg Philipp Telemann was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family's wishes. After studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hildesheim, Telemann entered the University of Leipzig to study law, but eventually settled on a career in music. He held important positions in Leipzig, Sorau, Eisenach, and Frankfurt before settling in Hamburg in 1721, where he became musical director of that city's five main churches. While Telemann's career prospered, his personal life was always troubled: his first wife died only a few months after their marriage, and his second wife had extramarital affairs and accumulated a large gambling debt before leaving him.
According to historical sources, Telemann may have written over 50 operas; however, only 35 works are of sufficient substance to appear in his catalogue of works (see below), and only nine of these are preserved complete. [1]
TVWV [2] | Title | Subdivisions | Libretto | Première date | Place, theatre | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
21:0521:5 | Narcissus | 3 acts | RauJohann Christian Rau, after Apostolo Zeno | 1701-00-001701 and Easter 1709 | Leipzig | |
21:0121:1 | lachendeDer lachende Democritus | 3 acts | Minatoafter Nicolò Minato | 1703-00-001703 | Leipzig | |
21:0221:2 | Ferdinand und Isabella | 5 acts | Telemannby the composer, after another source | 1703-00-01Spring 1703 | Leipzig | |
21:0321:3 | Cajus Caligula | 3 acts | 1704-03-23Easter 1704 | Leipzig | ||
not catalogued | Germanicus | Lachs Christine Dorothea Lachs | 1704-99written in 1704, revised 1710, premiered 2007 | 40 arias survive; performing edition by Michael Maul, premiered by Gotthold Schwarz and the Saxon Baroque Orchestra[ citation needed ] | ||
21:0421:4 | Adonis | 3 acts | 1708-04-08Easter 1708 | Leipzig | ||
21:0621:6 | Mario | 3 acts | StampigliaGerman translation after Silvio Stampiglia | 1709-03-31Easter 1709 | Leipzig | |
21:0721:7 | Jupiter und Semele | 3 acts | Lost | 1716-00-001716 or 1718 | Leipzig | |
21:0821:8 | SatyrenDie Satyren in Arcadien revised version: Der neumodische Liebhaber Damon | 3 acts | Telemannby the composer, after Pietro Pariati | 1719-00-001719, revised version: 30 August 1724 | Leipzig; revised version: Hamburg, Theater am Gänsemarkt | |
21:0921:9 | geduldige Der geduldige Sokrates | 3 acts | KönigJohann Ulrich König, after Nicolò Minato's La pazienza di Socrate | 1721-01-2828 January 1721 | Hamburg, Theater am Gänsemarkt | komisches Singspiel |
21:20 | Sancio or Die siegende Großmuth | 3 acts | KönigJohann Ulrich König, after Francesco Silvani | 1721-10-066 October 1721 | Hamburg | |
21:10 | SiegDer Sieg der Schönheit revised version: Gensericus | 3 acts | Postel Christian Heinrich Postel, reworked by Christian Friedrich Weichmann | 1723-07-1313 July 1723, revised version: 1725 | Hamburg; revised version: Braunschweig | |
21:11 | Belsazar, oder Das Ende der babylonischen Gefangenschaft | 3 acts plus 3 acts | BeccauJoachim Beccau | 1723-07-19First part: 19 July 1723; second part: 22 September 1723 | Hamburg | |
21:12 | Alarich, oder Die Straf-Ruthe des verfallenen Roms | 3 acts | 1723-08-022 August 1723 | Bayreuth | ||
21:13 | SchlußDer Schluß des Carnevals | 3 acts | 1724-02-2121 February 1724 | Hamburg | ||
21:14 | Omphale | 5 acts | Telemannby the composer, after Antoine Houdar de la Motte | 1724-06-001724 | Hamburg | |
21:17 | Adelheid, oder Die ungezwungene Liebe | 3 acts | Hallmannafter Johann Christian Hallmann | 1724-07-001724 | Bayreuth | |
Cimbriens allgemeines Frolocken | 1725-02-1717 February 1725 | Hamburg | ||||
21:16 | capricciosaLa capricciosa e il credulo also as Die geliebte Eigensinnige und der leichtgläubige Liebhaber | 1 act | PraetoriusJohann Philipp Praetorius | 1725-08-99August/September 1725 | Hamburg | |
21:15 | Pimpinone , oder Die ungleiche Heirath, oder das herrsch-süchtige Cammer-Mädgen | 1 act | PraetoriusJohann Philipp Praetorius, after Pietro Pariati | 1725-09-2727 September 1725 | Hamburg | intermezzo |
21:18 | Orpheus , oder Die wunderbare Beständigkeit der Liebe | 3 acts | Telemannby the composer, after Friedrich Christian Bressand | 1726-03-099 March 1726 | Hamburg, Theater am Gänsemarkt (concert performance?) | musicalisches Drama |
21:21 | Buffonet und Alga | 1 act | WendtChristoph Gottlieb Wendt | 1727-07-1414 July 1727 | Hamburg | intermezzo |
21:19 | Calypso | 1727-08-001727 | Hamburg | Singspiel | ||
21:22 | AmoursDie Amours der Vespetta or Der Galan in der Kiste | 1 act | HakenC. W. Haken | 1727-10-011 October 1727 | Hamburg | Nachspiel |
21:23 | verkehrteDie verkehrte Welt | 3 acts | PraetoriusJohann Philipp Praetorius, after Alain-René Lesage | 1728-02-1010 February 1728 | Hamburg | opéra comique |
21:24 | Miriways | 3 acts | MüllerJohann Samuel Müller | 1728-05-2626 May 1728 | Hamburg | Singspiel |
21:25 | Emma und Eginhard oder Die Last-tragende Liebe | 3 acts | WendtChristoph Gottlieb Wendt | 1728-11-2222 November 1728 | Hamburg | |
21:26 | Aesopus bey Hofe | 3 acts | Mattheson Johann Mattheson, after Pietro Pariati | 1728-02-2828 February 1728 | Hamburg | |
21:27 | Flavius Bertaridus, König der Langobarden | 3 acts | WendtChristoph Gottlieb Wendt and the composer, after Steffano Ghigi | 1729-11-2323 November 1729 | Hamburg | |
21:29 | Margaretha, Königin in Castilien | 5 acts | Hamann Johann Georg Hamann | 1730-08-1010 August 1730 | Hamburg | |
21:30 | WeisesteDer Weiseste in Sidon | 3 acts | HamannJohann Georg Hamann, after Silvio Stampiglia | 1733-02-044 February 1733 | Hamburg | |
21:31 | rachgierigeDie rachgierige Liebe oder Orasia, verwittwete Königin in Thracien (revised version of Orpheus) | 3 acts | Lost | 1736-10-1515 October 1736 | Hamburg | |
21:32 | Don Quichotte auf der Hochzeit des Comacho or Don Quixotte, der Löwenritter | Schiebeler Daniel Schiebeler | 1761-00-001761 | Hamburg, Konzertsaal (concert performance) | serenata |
TWV | Title | Genre | Libretto |
---|---|---|---|
21:33 | Adam und Eva | operette | C. Richter |
21:34 | Hercules und Alceste | Comödie | |
21:35 | Herodes und Marianne | opera oratorio | J. S. Müller |
Title | TWV | Composer | Première date | Place |
---|---|---|---|---|
Ulysses | 22:1 | Giuseppe Maria Orlandini | 19 November 1731 | Hamburg |
Die Flucht des Aeneas | 22:10 | Nicola Porpora | 19 November 1731 | Hamburg |
Judith, Gemahlin Kayser Ludewig des Frommen | 22:12 | Fortunato Chelleri | 27 November 1732 | Hamburg |
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin is a German chamber orchestra founded in East Berlin in 1982. Each year Akamus gives circa 100 concerts, ranging from small chamber works to large-scale symphonic pieces in Europe's musical centers as well as on tours in Asia, North America and South America.
Between 1716 and 1767, Georg Philipp Telemann wrote a series of Passions, musical compositions reflecting on Christ's Passion – the physical, spiritual and mental suffering of Jesus from the hours prior to his trial through to his crucifixion. The works were written for performance in German churches in the days before Easter. A prolific composer, Telemann wrote over 40 Passions for the churches of Hamburg alone, of which 22 have survived according to the present state of research. He also wrote several Passion oratorios. Unlike the Passions intended for liturgical performance, they were not closely set to the literal text of the Gospels.
The Hamburgische Kapitänsmusik refers to a body of compositions by Georg Philipp Telemann. They comprise sacred oratorios and secular serenades. However, the oratorios were intended to be performed in a secular setting, the Hamburg Drillhaus, and their characters are almost exclusively allegorical. The Kapitänsmusik was written for the annual banquet of the Hamburg militia captains. The works span the period from 1723 to 1766, although many of the manuscripts have now been lost, and in several of those years no banquet was held. Although Telemann’s grandson Georg Michael Telemann inherited many autographs and manuscript copies of Telemann’s vocal works, the rest of his musical estate, including the Kapitänsmusik, was sold at an auction in Hamburg on September 6, 1769. Much of that material has since disappeared, and the auction catalogue has not survived. Of the 36 Kapitänsmusiken that Telemann wrote, only 10 oratorios plus a few separate pieces are extant today.
Adalbert Kraus is a German tenor in opera and concert, known for singing the works of Johann Sebastian Bach.
Ludger Rémy was a German harpsichordist, conductor and musicologist.
Michael Schneider is a German flautist, recorder player, conductor and academic teacher. He is especially connected with later Baroque repertoire such as the works of Telemann and with early Classical repertoire such as the works of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, and founded the orchestra La Stagione to perform and record such repertoire.
Flavius Bertaridus, König der Langobarden is an opera by Georg Philipp Telemann performed in Hamburg at the Oper am Gänsemarkt in 1729. It is Telemann's only surviving opera in the German equivalent of the opera seria genre.
Don Quichotte auf der Hochzeit des Comacho, TVWV 21:32, is a one-act comic serenata by Georg Philipp Telemann. The libretto by the student poet Daniel Schiebeler is based on chapter 20 of volume 2 of Cervantes's novel Don Quixote. The opera premiered on 5 November 1761 in Hamburg. When first performed, it was given the title: Don Quichotte auf der Hochzeit des Comacho; later it was also known as Don Quixote der Löwenritter.
Gensericus oder Sieg der Schönheit TVWV 21:10 is a comic German-language opera in three acts by Georg Philipp Telemann. It was performed at the Oper am Gänsemarkt, while Keiser was director. Unlike Orpheus and Flavius Bertaridus, the opera contains no Italian-language set piece arias. The librettist was Christian Heinrich Postel.
Emma und Eginhard, oder Die Last-tragende Liebe, TWV 21:25, is a German Singspiel in three acts by Georg Philipp Telemann performed in Hamburg at the Oper am Gänsemarkt in 1728. The librettist was Christoph Gottlieb Wend.
Das ist je gewißlich wahr, TWV 1:183, is a cantata by Georg Philipp Telemann. Due to an erroneous attribution to Johann Sebastian Bach, it appears in the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV) as No. 141, but was moved to Anhang III, the Appendix of spurious works, in the 1990s second edition of that catalogue.
Ich weiß, daß mein Erlöser lebt, TWV 1:877, BWV 160, is a church cantata composed around 1725 by Georg Philipp Telemann for Easter Sunday, formerly attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach.
Christian Heinrich Postel was a German jurist, epic poet and opera librettist, who wrote 28 libretti for the Oper am Gänsemarkt in Hamburg: set by composers such as Johann Philipp Förtsch, Reinhard Keiser and Georg Philipp Telemann. His texts for a St John Passion were set by composers Christian Ritter, Johann Mattheson and Johann Sebastian Bach in their respective St John Passion.
Georg Melchior Hoffmann was a Baroque composer who was influential as the leader at the Collegium Musicum in Leipzig. His compositions have been mistaken for those of Johann Sebastian Bach.
A church cantata or sacred cantata is a cantata intended to be performed during a liturgical service. The liturgical calendar of the German Reformation era had, without counting Reformation Day and days between Palm Sunday and Easter, 72 occasions for which a cantata could be presented. Composers like Georg Philipp Telemann composed cycles of church cantatas comprising all 72 of these occasions. Such a cycle is called an "ideal" cycle, while in any given liturgical year feast days could coincide with Sundays, and the maximum amount of Sundays after Epiphany and the maximum amount of Sundays after Trinity could not all occur.
The Telemann-Werke-Verzeichnis, abbreviated TWV, is the numbering system identifying compositions by Georg Philipp Telemann, published by Martin Ruhnke.
Georg Philipp Telemann's collection of Twelve Fantasias for Viola da Gamba Solo, TWV 40:26–37, was published in Hamburg in 1735, titled Fantaisies pour la Basse de Violle. The fantasias for viola da gamba were considered lost until an original print was found in a private collection in 2015. They were published by Edition Güntersberg in 2016, and first recorded and performed again by Thomas Fritzsch the same year.
Daniel Schiebeler was a German writer, poet, librettist and Protestant hymnwriter. He wrote librettos for operas and oratorios, set by composers such as Georg Philipp Telemann, Johann Adam Hiller and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.
Johann Balthasar König was a German Baroque composer, especially of hymn melodies, having published a hymnal with 1,913 melodies. He was the church musician at Frankfurt's main Protestant church, the Katharinenkirche, and the town's Kapellmeister. He was also closely associated with Georg Philipp Telemann.