For contemporaries Telemann was the leading German composer, and a leader on the European musical scene. His fantastic energy, keen business sense, and industry ensured a steady output during an active career of over sixty years. A friend of Handel and J.S. Bach, and esteemed by both, he was a more than likable character: versatile, resourceful, witty, and disarmingly self-assertive. In describing Telemann's life and career, especially in Leipzig, Frankfurt, and Hamburg, Professor Petzoldt explains the musician's status in eighteenth-century society and shows how Telemann, by dint of his gifts and prestige, rose above dependence. After his death Telemann's star waned, while Bach's rose. The author's examination of Telemann's reputation and styles emphasizes that we must try to understand eighteenth-century attitudes before we make hasty judgments and dismiss as second-rate a composer so lauded in his day. The detailed analysis of Telemann's music includes his orchestral works, chamber and instrumental music, Lieder, oratorios and Passions, cantatas, and opera. It also includes comparison with the works of such contemporaries as Handel, Bach, Keiser, Mattheson, and Carl Heinrich Graun. The account of the Hamburg opera shows Telemann as a prime mover in the development of a specifically German opera.
來源: Google Book