repertoire

Trios for four

Following on from my exploration of Italian recorder sonatas earlier this year, we’re expanding our horizons today to the Baroque Trio Sonata. All of them feature the recorder, but I’ve opened up my research to include other instruments too, so you’ll have the pleasure of enjoying many different musical colours.

What is a trio sonata?

Before I share my favourite pieces from this genre of chamber music, let’s explore the basic concept of a trio sonata…

The form originated in the early 17th century as a sonata for two instruments and basso continuo, often in several movements, and remained popular throughout the Baroque era. Not content with following the popular pattern, Bach also used the term for a series of organ pieces where all three lines are played by one musician on two organ manuals and pedals. Having recently arranged one of these for two recorders and continuo, the very idea of one human playing three such complex lines at once is simply mind boggling!

Returning to the standard trio sonata format, from the name you’d expect them to be played by three musicians, wouldn’t you? But counterintuitively this isn’t generally the case. Yes, a trio sonata encompasses three melodic lines, but they’re normally played by at least four musicians. Take a look at this extract from a Telemann Trio Sonata (one we’ll encounter again later):

There are three melodic lines - two for recorder, flute or violin (offering a piece of music for multiple instruments was common in the Baroque and a cunning way to sell more copies) and a third for an instrument in bass clef. This bass line would be performed by the continuo team of at least two musicians. The first would be a sustaining instrument - normally a cello or viola da gamba, but there’s no reason why you couldn’t use a wind instrument such as a bassoon.

Now look a few bars into the piece and you’ll see some numbers above the bass line. These are called figured bass and are intended for a harmonic instrument - usually some sort of keyboard, such as a harpsichord, spinet or organ. These figures tell the keyboard player which chords to play above the bassline to complete the harmony. Beyond the actual harmonies, the keyboard player has total freedom - they can play chords of just two or three notes, or create something more dramatic or melodic from them.

This short extract from a modern edition of a Handel Trio Sonata includes an extra stave above the bass line. Here the editor has created a suggested realisation of the figured bass. This is useful for keyboard players who can’t interpret figured bass on the spot, but there’s no reason why a performer has to stick rigidly to these exact notes.

As you’ll see and hear in some of the recordings I’ve selected, it’s entirely possible to expand the continuo team further still, with plucked string instruments, such as a lute, guitar or theorbo (a deeper member of the lute family), adding even more colour and texture to the performance.

Now let’s explore some of my favourite trio sonatas featuring the recorder. I’ve spent a long time seeking out some beautiful performances of these works, which I hope you’ll enjoy. Where possible I’ve also included a link to CDs including these performances (many of them are available via streaming services too), along with links to a playlist of the complete album on YouTube where it’s available. I’ve included a link to the IMSLP page for each sonata too, so you can play them if you wish to. There are usually several editions to choose from for each sonata, including facsimiles of the original 18th century publications for some of them, giving you a glimpse of the composer’s original intentions.

George Frideric Handel - Sonata in F major

Baroque Trio Sonatas performed by Opus 4 Paula Records PACD64

Baroque Trio Sonatas complete playlist

Download the music from IMSLP

Play the Handel Trio Sonata in F with my Trio ‘minus one’ consort video

Handel wrote six wonderful solo sonatas for the recorder, composed after his move to London, and these are familiar to most recorder players. This charming trio sonata comes from earlier in his career, while he was still living in Italy, and is the only one he composed for two recorders.

Handel was a great recycler of good musical Iines and you may well experience a sense of déjà vu listening to the third movement of the sonata. As you can see below, the opening arpeggio patterns (and the harmonies too) are replicated almost exactly in his fourth recorder sonata, also in F major. But in this later solo sonata he uses them more concisely - no doubt with the benefit of several more years of composing experience.

Trio Sonata in F

Solo Sonata in F

Georg Philipp Telemann - Sonata in C major

Telemann Chamber Music performed by Passacaglia Barn Cottage Records

Telemann Chamber Music complete playlist

Download the music from IMSLP

Play the Telemann Trio Sonata in C with my Trio ‘minus one’ consort video

Telemann was a talented multi-instrumentalist, playing the recorder, flute, oboe, violin, viola da gamba, double bass and more instruments besides. He had a natural instinct when composing for the recorder and his music is justly beloved by those of us who play the instrument. This Trio Sonata is one of his finest, often affectionately known as ‘The Girlfriends’ on account of the movement names.

Telemann composed four trio sonatas for two recorders but this is undoubtedly the most imaginative. In it he depicts notable women from history through music, from Xantippe, the nagging wife of Socrates, to Clelia, a Roman woman who swam the River Tiber to escape captivity, and Dido, Queen of Carthage. In common with Telemann’s other recorder music, this sonata lies beautifully under the fingers (as you’d expect from someone who evidently played the instrument so well) and it’s a joy to play this exceptional music.

Henry Purcell - Three Parts Upon a Ground

Live performance by Mélanie Flahaut, Jean-François Novelli et Jean Tubéry (recorders), François Joubert-Caillet (viola da gamba), Matthias Spaeter (theorbo) & Philippe Grisvard (harpsichord)

Download the music from IMSLP

This is the only work I’ve chosen which wasn’t originally composed for the recorder. Technically this piece for three violins and continuo isn’t a trio sonata, as it’s just a single movement, but the music is so fantastic I couldn’t in all conscience omit it from my list. Originally written in D major, it works very well on recorders when transposed a minor third higher into F major, and this recording is just fabulous.

The entire piece is based upon this repeating six note ground bass:

Unlike many works written around a ground bass, Purcell allows the continuo team to stray from this to become equal melodic partners from time to time. He also changes the time signature time mid-flow, from compound to simple time and back again - another unusual characteristic compared to most pieces of this type. This time change is followed by a section where the third recorder part pairs up with the bassline in canon, while the upper two voices play an entirely different canon against them. Before a final, energetic dash for the finishing line the continuo team strike up their own melodic line, while the recorder parts play the original ground bass - truly turning things upside down!

Daniel Purcell - Sonata in G minor

A Noble Entertainment - Music from Queen Anne’s London performed by The Parnassian Ensemble. Avie AV2094

A Noble Entertainment complete playlist

Download the music from IMSLP

Daniel Purcell tends to be hidden in the shadow of Henry, who was either his older brother or maybe a cousin. Perhaps that shouldn’t be the case as he wrote some great music which is sadly neglected today. Having joined the choir of the Chapel Royal at the age of 14, Daniel spent time as organist at Magdalen College, Oxford before returning to London to work in the theatre, where he composed incidental music for over forty plays.

London had a thriving music scene in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, with composers arriving from all over Europe to live and work here. If you’re interested in exploring this musical melting pot do listen to the complete album (playlist link above) as it includes music from many composers who may be unfamiliar to you.

Johann Friedrich Fasch - Sonata in G major for flute & two recorders

Live performance by Yu Ma (flute), Yi-Chang Liang & Zeng Yixing (recorders), Chia-Hua Chiang (cello), Asako Ueda (guitar) & Machiko Suto (harpsichord)

Download the music from IMSLP

Here we expand the concept of a trio sonata, adding a flute to two recorders to create a quartet sonata. In this work Fasch mostly pairs the recorders, using them to complement the flute line, both in tone colour and texture. Fasch was a German violinist and composer, well respected and performed widely in his day but little known today - Telemann performed a cycle of his church cantatas in Hamburg in 1733 and Bach arranged one of his trio sonatas for organ. I talked earlier about the flexibility of the basso continuo team and this performance is a good example. As well as cello and harpsichord, a baroque guitar has been added to expand and add variety to the texture.

Johann Joachim Quantz - Sonata in C major

Quantz: Musique de Chambre à la Cour de Dresde performed by Ensemble Baroque le Rondeau & Jean-Pierre Boullet Syrius SYR 141335

Quantz Chamber Music complete playlist

Download the music from IMSLP

It was quite unusual at this time to write music for recorder and flute together, but as the previous sonata demonstrated, not totally unheard of. Quantz was an important character in the late Baroque, working as a composer, performer, and flute maker at the court of Frederick the Great. We know he taught the flute to the monarch so perhaps he composed this sonata to play with his pupil?

Quantz’s working life straddles the transition between the Baroque and Classical periods and his music is known to have been admired by Bach, Haydn and Mozart. You can hear the subtle evolution of musical style, especially in this Larghetto, where he effortlessly creates long, expressive musical lines. In this recording the continuo team brings a lighter touch, swapping cello and harpsichord for bassoon and lute - a beautiful but unusual combination.

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - Sonata in F for bass recorder and viola

Rococo performed by Dorothee Oberlinger & Ensemble 1700 Deutsche HM 88875134062

Download the music from IMSLP

If you think of the bass recorder as being the lowest instrument of a recorder quartet, often saddled with dull, repetitive music, think again! In this sonata it features as an equal with the viola, with musical lines every bit as challenging as those we play on smaller recorders. Carl Philipp Emanuel was the fifth son of JS Bach, born in 1714. The latest of the composers I’m featuring today, he began writing at a time when music was transitioning to the more expressive and turbulent style of the Classical period - clearly evident in this trio sonata.

The combination of bass recorder and viola is a curious but beautiful one - soulful and mellow. It requires a sensitive continuo team to allow the subtle melodic lines to sing, but Dorothee Oberlinger and Ensemble 1700 bring so much character to this performance and it’s a joyful experience for one’s ears!

Antonio Vivaldi - Sonata in A minor RV86 recorder and bassoon

Vivaldi: Gods, Emperors and Angels performed by Sara Deborah Struntz (violin), Pamela Thorby (recorder), Peter Whelan (bassoon), La Serenissima, Adrian Chandler (violin/director) Avie AV2201

Vivaldi : Gods, Emperors and Angels complete playlist

Download the music from IMSLP

We’re perhaps most familiar with Vivaldi as a composer of concertos (literally hundreds of them, including a number for recorder) but he wrote many different genres of music, including a number of trio sonatas. This example for recorder and bassoon is an astonishing work, demanding huge virtuosity from both players. The bassoon and recorder are equal partners, but each has a distinct character. The recorder often has singing, melodic lines, while Vivaldi exploits the bassoon’s more percussive articulation to create some sparkling and, at times, explosive contrasts. Having played the baroque bassoon (albeit it in a pretty average way) for a number of years I’m in awe of the way Peter Whelan negotiates this incredibly difficult music. In this Largo he provides an arpeggiated moto perpetuo counterpoint to Pamela Thorby’s beautifully ornamented and lyrical melodic line. Do explore the whole sonata (playlist linked above) and you’ll be equally astonished by the other movements!

Georg Philipp Telemann - Quartet in D minor from Tafelmusik

Telemann: Tafelmusik, performed by Florilegium & Walter van Hauwe Channel CCS19198

Telemann Tafelmusik complete playlist

Download the music from IMSLP

I finish today with perhaps one of the finest pieces of this type - another larger scale composition. Telemann published his collection Tafelmusik in 1733 - one of the last examples of this genre of music. Tafelmusik was initially published under the title of Musique de table (table music) and such collections were intended as an accompaniment for formal dinners at weddings and other events. Publishing it cost an exorbitant amount, so to offset the expense Telemann found more than 200 people who were willing to help fund it in advance. In return their names, addresses and social status were included in the first edition. Both Handel and Quantz were among these initial subscribers.

The music itself is very varied, opening with an overture for orchestra, followed by solo and trio sonatas, a concerto and this quartet. In a mirror image of the Fasch Sonata we heard earlier, Telemann chooses to use a solo recorder (this part can also be played on bassoon) with two flutes. The music may have been conceived as a diversion for an audience whose focus would perhaps have been less than 100%, but it’s far from trivial, conjuring up a host of colours, textures and characters. In this movement alone the music veers between a boisterous Allegro and music of a more lilting nature, making effective use of the tonal differences between the recorder and flutes. I encourage you to listen to the whole collection (see above for link to complete playlist) - it really is a musical tour de force!

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If you’ve never explored the Trio Sonata genre before I hope my recommendations have opened your eyes to fresh musical horizons. But if you’re already an aficionado of this delightful chamber music perhaps you’ve discovered something unfamiliar to expand your repertoire? Do remember, if you want to try playing this repertoire with friends you don’t necessarily need a tame cellist or harpsichordist. Many of the bass lines will fit on a bass recorder (with just the odd low note shifted an octave higher) and even playing just the three melodic lines will give you a taster of their musical charm. There’s also no reason why you shouldn’t offer the score to a sensitive pianist and they can give the editor’s continuo realisation a whirl. Incidentally, if you use Apple Music, I’ve created a playlist there containing many of these recordings which you can find here.

If I’ve omitted your favourite trio sonata from my list why not tell us about it in the comments below, perhaps linking to your favourite recording of the work? This is a rich and varied repertoire and I’d love us to explore it further together as a community!

Drama and style - exploring Italian Baroque Sonatas

If I ask you to name a Baroque recorder sonata, which composer would immediately spring to mind? Handel, or perhaps Telemann? They’re two of the biggest names of the Baroque era (what a shame Bach never composed any recorder sonatas to complete the trilogy!) but there were many others who also wrote for our favourite instrument. 

In today’s blog we’re going to visit 18th century Italy to explore some marvellous repertoire from composers who were well respected in their day, but perhaps aren’t household names today. Some of these composers spent their lives working in their home country, but many visited London, which was arguably the place to be for musicians in the early 1700s, and some of them decided to stay. 

It’s been such a pleasure diving into this musical world - at times elegant, often dramatic and always oozing with Italian style. I’ve come up with a playlist of seven recorder sonatas, but each one is part of a longer playlist too. I’ve included a link to each album and I hope perhaps you’ll bookmark them on YouTube so you can explore them further. All are available to stream/download too, and some of them as CDs, so I’ve included links to these too. So sit down with a cup of your favourite beverage (or perhaps a glass of chianti or a cappuccino?) and relax as I transport us to Italy. 

If these inspire you to try them for yourself I’ve dug out links to the music for each sonata, which you can download and print. Many are also available as facsimiles of 18th century editions, which are fascinating in their own right. If you have some spare time, why not print out both versions so you can compare 18th and 21st century notation. Many of them are remarkably easy to read and I love the way these online resources allow us to go back in time and see the notation exactly as the composer would have known it.  

Francesco Barsanti - Sonata in C major Op.1 No.2

Flute Sonatas from the Italian Baroque, Vol. 2 - Frans Brüggen (recorder), Gustav Leonhardt (harpsichord), Anner Bylsma (cello)

Warner Classics: 9029527253

Listen to the complete album here.

Sheet music - Modern edition or 18th century facsimile

As recorder players we often borrow music from other instruments to expand our repertoire, but this can create problems. Sometimes the pitch has to be altered and the process of transcribing often results in music which feels less comfortable on the recorder. Happily, Barsanti’s music has none of these pitfalls. Not only were his six sonatas originally composed for the recorder, but the composer was also a talented player of the instrument and you really can tell.

Barsanti (1690–1775) trained as a lawyer in Padua but at the age of 24 he abandoned this career for a life in music, travelling to London, perhaps with composer Geminiani. A talented recorder player and oboist, he quickly found a role in the Haymarket orchestra, where Handel’s operas were produced. He stuck with this until 1735, before moving to Edinburgh for nearly a decade. Here he took up a post with the Edinburgh Music Society and enjoyed the patronage of Lady Erskine. He also married a local woman called Jean (her surname remains unknown) and their daughter Jenny became a well known actress in both London and Dublin. 

Sadly the Edinburgh Music Society wasn’t a rich institution and after receiving a 50% pay cut in 1740, and having several requests for a rise turned down, Barsanti eventually returned to London. After eight years away his previously strong reputation had faded so he agreed to become a violinist in Handel’s opera orchestra. 

An example of Barsanti’s quirky approach to slurs

Fortunately for us, Barsanti’s six recorder sonatas were rediscovered by Walter Bergmann in the 1940s and he published three of them through his work with the publisher, Schott. When you play them it rapidly becomes clear these are the work of someone who really understood the recorder. Not only do the notes lie easily under the fingers, but he has a quirky approach to articulation, adding slurs and staccato to the music where most other composers of the day left such musical decisions entirely to the performer.

The C major Sonata is one of my favourites from this set, recorded here by Frans Bruggen way back in 1972. The opening Adagio is remarkably florid and feels quite operatic at times, with its chromatic moments and highly ornamented lines. The recorder and basso continuo lines are very much equal partners throughout the sonata and there’s a lovely sense of conversation in the Allegro.

Benedetto Marcello - Sonata in F Op.2 No.12

Flauto Veneziano - Dorothee Oberlinger (recorder), Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca

Deutsche HM: 88697988632

Listen to the complete album here.

Sheet music - Modern edition or 18th century facsimile

Benedetto Marcello

Like Barsanti, Marcello (1686-1739) also worked in the law, although Marcello did this in parallel with his musical life under pressure from his father. While living in Venice he was a pupil of Antonio Lotti and followed his teacher in composing a vast array of music, including instrumental pieces, hundreds of cantatas and many operas. Alongside the music his satirical pamphlet Il teatro alla moda (1720) became very popular in his lifetime, although initially it was published anonymously. In it he mercilessly criticises Italian opera of the period, from its artificial storylines, extravagant staging and the vanity of the singers.

He offers the following satirical advice to composers and singers:

"The modern Music Composer should possess no knowledge about the Rules of good composition, except for some principle of universal practice... He should not understand the numeric Musical Proportions, nor the optimal effect of contrary Motions, or the bad Relation of Tritones and augmented Intervals."

"To the Singers – It is not necessary that the VIRTUOSO can read, or write, or have a good pronunciation of vowels, and of single and double Consonants, or understand the sense of Words, etc., but it is better if he mistakes Senses, Letters, Syllables, etc., in order to perform Ornaments, Trills, Appoggiature, very long Cadences, etc. etc. etc."

Ironically, by the time this piece was published Marcello had himself already composed one opera of his own and subsequently wrote several more, although I wouldn’t like to say whether or not he followed his own advice!

This sonata is the final one from his Op.2 set, composed early in his career. Most sonatas from this period comprise three or four movements, but here Marcello goes for five, two of which take the form of dances from the period - a Minuet and Gavotte. He finishes the work with a beautiful Ciaccona, which is based around a repeating four bar bassline. Unlike a ground bass (where the continuo team play the same bassline throughout) in a ciaccona (or chaconne) the accompaniment explores the melodic and harmonic possibilities of this sequence, gradually becoming an equal partner with the recorder line.

Francesco Mancini (1672 – 1737) Sonata No.4 in A minor

Francesco Mancini: Six Recorder Sonatas - Yi-Chang Liang, Machiko Suto & Ensemble IJ SPACE

Claves: CD1907

Listen to the complete album here.

Sheet music - Modern edition or 18th century facsimile

Francesco Mancini (1672-1737) hailed from Naples, and is one of a number of composers who benefitted from Alessandro Scarlatti’s absence from the Neapolitan court between 1702 and 1708. During this time he was Director of the Conservatorio di S Maria di Loreto and maestro of the Capella Reale. On Scarlatti’s return he resumed his original role as his deputy, finally taking a step up once again on the elder composer’s death in 1725.

I introduced you to Mancini’s charming recorder sonatas in my October 2023 Sounding Pipes playlist, but I couldn’t resist including another of my favourites here, beautifully performed by Yi-Chang Liang. You can sense Mancini’s experience as a composer of opera here, especially in the first movement with its sudden contrasts of mood and tempo.

Paolo Benedetto Bellinzani - Sonata in D minor Op.3 No.12

Upon a Ground - Tabea Debus (recorder), Lea Rahel Bader (baroque cello), Johannes Lang (harpsichord), Kohei Ota (theorbo), Jan Croonenbroeck (organ)

Classic Clips: CLCL12

Listen to the complete album here.

Sheet music - modern edition or 18th century facsimile

Sources of information on Paolo Benedetto Bellinzani (1682-1757) seem to be rather sparse, but he was evidently an active composer, writing lots of vocal music. However, he also produced a collection of twelve recorder sonatas, a handful of which have been edited into modern playing editions.

This sonata is utterly intriguing. The opening Largo is rather abstract in its form, exploring constantly shifting harmonies rather than going for clear melodic lines. This is followed by a typical lively Allegro but from here it becomes ever more dramatic. Movement three is a solo for harpsichord (fully written out in the 18th century edition) which gives the recorder player a chance to breathe and creates a sizeable introduction to the final movement. The Sonata climaxes with an exciting set of variations on La Follia - a popular melodic and harmonic progression which has been used by composers from the 15th century to the present day.

Tabea Debus has chosen to use a large continuo team for this recording, comprising organ, harpsichord, cello and baroque guitar. They play with a remarkably light touch for such a large ensemble and I love the variety of tonal colours they’re able to create. There are moments which feel positively ecclesiastical (recorder and organ for instance) which contrast with other variations played with a sense of wild abandon in keeping with La Follia’s Iberian origins.

Diogenio Bigaglia - Sonata in A minor - descant recorder

Corelli & Co - Parnassus Avenue - Dan Laurin (recorders), Hanneke van Proosdij (harpsichord, organ, recorder), David Tayler (theorbo/baroque guitar), Tanya Tomkins (cello)

BIS: BISCD945

Listen to the complete album here

Sheet music - modern edition.

The majority of solo recorder repertoire from the Baroque was composed for the treble, so this delightful sonata for descant by Diogenio Bigaglia (c.1678-1745) immediately stands out from the crowd. Bigaglia was well respected by his peers (including notable composers such as Vivaldi, Marcello and Albinoni) but today he’s all but vanished into obscurity. He joined a Benedictine monastery in Venice when he was just sixteen, but continued to compose both instrumental and vocal music alongside his role there.

This sonata is probably the best known of his works today, but if this whets your appetite, Bigaglia’s Opus 1 set of sonatas is also worth exploring. The title page labels them as sonatas for violin or flute (meaning recorder) and continuo. This was a common strategy during the Baroque (both Handel and Telemann did the same), perhaps because composer knew the music would work on either instrument, or more likely because it gave the potential for greater sales!

Francesco Maria Veracini - Sonata no.6 for violin or recorder

Vivaldiana - Michael Form (recorder), Dirk Börner (harpsichord), Melanie Flahaut (bassoon) & Delphine Biron (cello)

Pan Classics: PC10255

Listen to the complete album here

Sheet music - 18th century facsimile

Francesco Veracini

Veracini’s Twelve Sonatas for violin or recorder (another multipurpose set, like Bigaglia’s Sonatas mentioned above) were composed for Prince Friedrich August when he visited Italy to recruit musicians for the court in Dresden. Ultimately he hired an entire opera company, including Antonio Lotti as director and the famous castrato Senesino. The company included violinist Veracini, who was reputedly paid a very high salary. Already a well known violin virtuoso, he was required to compose music for the court and in 1717 became Kapellmeister in Dresden.

Veracini had a fearsome reputation, both as a violinist and for his arrogance. A quarrel with one of his fellow musicians led to a fall from an upstairs window which broke Veracini’s leg. There are conflicting accounts of the incident (did he jump or was he pushed?) but it seems the other court musicians were relieved to be rid of Veracini when he fled Dresden afterwards.

In the sonata I’m sharing here, Michael Form creates a virtuosic performance which I imagine would have delighted Veracini. Alongside his reputation as a player, Veracini was widely recognised as a stylish and talented composer. The music historian Charles Burney said of him, "he had certainly a great share of whim and caprice, but he built his freaks on a good foundation, being an excellent contrapuntist". Michael Form has chosen to reflect this ‘whim and caprice’ with his endlessly creative ornamentation and I hope you find his infectious sense of joy as pleasing as I do.

Giuseppe Sammartini - Sonata in F major Sibley No.23

Sammartini - Sonatas for recorder & bass continuo - Maurice Steger (recorders), Sergio Ciomei (harpsichord & organ), Mauro Valli (cello), Christian Beuse (bassoon), Margret Köll (harp), Eduardo Egüez (theorbo & guitar) & Naoki Kitaya (organ)

Harmonia Mundi: HMC905266

Listen to the complete album here

Sheet music - 18th century facsimile

My final Italian sonata comes from another composer who was one of the most respected performers of his time - Giuseppe Sammartini (1695-1750). Originally from Milan, Sammartini spent the majority of his working life in London where he gained a reputation as "the greatest oboist the world had ever known". He was reputed to be able to make the oboe sound like the human voice, such was the beauty of his tone. Like most woodwind players of the day, he also played recorder and flute, working in Handel’s orchestra and many others besides. He later worked closely with Haydn, playing a part in the development of the younger composer’s classical style.

Giuseppe Sammartini

In this sonata, Sammartini’s development of the Baroque style into something even more expressive is immediately clear. Most composers of the period chose a single tempo for each movement, but Sammartini explores the dramatic possibilities of shifting the boundaries. Nowhere is this more evident than the second movement, which veers dramatically between a jaunty Allegro and slower improvisatory sections, packed with extreme emotions. As if this wasn’t enough, he continues with an astonishing Adagio, so dramatic it sounds positively operatic. Having comprehensively wrung out our nerves, the final movement is one of pure joy, allowing us a moment to come back to earth again!

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There ends our brief sojourn to Italy - one I hope that’s been both inspiring and entertaining for you. It’s easy to be distracted by the big names of the Baroque period, but I hope perhaps this has opened your eyes to some of the other composers who wrote for the recorder. Do you have a favourite Italian sonata I’ve missed, perhaps by another composer? If there are other pieces you would include among your favourites please do tell us about them in the comments below - I’d love to hear which Italian Baroque composers you just couldn’t live without!

Composer focus – Georg Philipp Telemann

Who’s your favourite recorder composer? Are you a Baroque aficionado, or a fan of contemporary music? One of the things I love about my work is being able to help the musicians I meet discover new music and to enable them to play familiar pieces better. From time to time I’ll take a look at composers and the music they’ve written for the recorder, making suggestions for recordings you may enjoy along the way. For the first of these occasional posts I decided to begin with someone who played the recorder himself and wrote effortlessly for the instrument – Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767).

I’ll concentrate today on Telemann’s solo recorder sonatas, but our favourite instrument features in much more of his music so I’ll return to that in a later post. Even if you don’t often play solo repertoire yourself, I encourage you to read on as I hope you’ll discover something new and I’ve chosen lots of wonderful performances for you to listen to.

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Telemann may naturally spring to mind as a great composer to us, but he hasn’t always enjoyed universal popularity or been viewed with such esteem. By the nineteenth century he was dismissed by many musicologists as a polygraph – writing too much music, with quantity outweighing quality. The 1911 edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica referred to him very negatively in comparison with Bach and Handel, talking about "the vastly inferior work of lesser composers such as Telemann". Damning words, but if the writer of that sentence could have spoken to Telemann’s contemporaries, he’d have heard of a man whose musical expertise was very highly considered. He knew both J.S.Bach and Handel well and became godfather to Bach’s son, Carl Philipp Emanuel.

Telemann was self-taught in music and, like many 18th century musicians, was a multi-instrumentalist, playing the recorder, flute, oboe, violin, viola da gamba, double bass and other instruments too. His family made it clear they wished him to follow a different career, so initially he went into the law, later gravitating back to life as a full-time musician.

He was certainly prolific, composing over 3000 works – over three times the output of J.S.Bach! Sadly around half of these pieces have since been lost, but that still leaves us with a vast and varied repertoire. He loved absorbing different influences, bringing French, Italian, German and even Polish national styles into his writing. Composition evidently came easily to Telemann – his contemporary and friend Handel, once jokingly said that he "could write a church piece in eight parts with the same expedition another would write a letter".

The largest part of Telemann’s working life (1721-1767) was spent in Hamburg, where he was employed to write music for all five of the city’s churches. It’s reputed that his salary was about three times what Bach was paid for a similar role in Leipzig so the city evidently appreciated his talents. In 1722 a search was made for a new Kantor at Leipzig’s Thomaskirche and Telemann was first choice for the job. Ultimately Hamburg city council wouldn’t release him from his duties there, so he had to decline the job and the post was filled by Bach – although apparently he wasn’t even the second choice for the job!

Musician and businessman

Not only was Telemann a wonderful composer, but he was also a canny businessman. He made a point of pursuing exclusive publication rights for his works, setting an important early precedent regarding music as the intellectual property of the composer. Between 1725 and 1740 he published more than 40 volumes of music, which were widely distributed across Europe. One of these publishing ventures is particularly relevant to his recorder output as we’ll see later.

The recorder sonatas

It was common for Baroque composers to write sonatas which mention the recorder in their title pages. With many, they were aimed at as wide a market as possible, often listing the music as being suitable for two or three instruments, often a combination of recorder, flute, oboe or violin. Telemann did this too (for instance his Sonata in F minor can be played on recorder or bassoon) and no doubt this broadened his sales opportunities. But one gets a definite sense while playing his sonatas that the music was really intended for the recorder, using the full range of the instrument and playing to its strengths. In contrast, Handel’s recorder sonatas are beautiful, but they rarely utilise the higher notes and would just as easily sit on the flute or violin. In contrast, Telemann, as a recorder player himself, explores the instrument’s possibilities more fully and even specifies particular articulation in some works.

Telemann’s recorder sonatas come in three collections (plus a lone sonata which stands alone), numbering nine in total. There are other collections too, such as the Methodical Sonatas, originally composed for flute, which can be stolen by recorder players. But ‘borrowing’ flute repertoire usually requires transposing the music up a minor third (common practice by 18th century recorder players) and this can compromise the ease of playing because you sometimes end up in less comfortable keys. For the purposes of this blog post I’ll concentrate on the ‘pure’ recorder sonatas, but if you’re looking for further music to inspire and stretch you I also recommend the Methodical Sonatas. Each sonata begins with a slow movement which shows both the plain melodic lines and Telemann’s own florid ornamentation. they’re a wonderful lesson on the extremes one can explore while embellishing Baroque music and contain some exquisite music.

Der getreue Music-Meister

In 1728 Telemann came up with the idea for a music periodical – the first of its kind. Every two weeks he would publish a new ‘Lection’ or lesson, containing freshly composed music.

The title page is inscribed thus:

“The faithful Music-Master, who intends to supply all kinds of musical pieces, as much for singers as for instrumentalists, for various voices and nearly all customary instruments, and also moral, operatic, and other arias and TRIOS, DUETS, SOLOS etc. SONATAS, OUVERTURES, etc., and also containing FUGUES, COUNTERPOINTS, CANONS, etc. hence almost everything which occurs in music, intended to be played according to the Italian, French, English, Polish, and as much serious as lively and entertaining manner, every 14 days in one LECTION by Telemann.”

Der getreue Music-Meister stretched to no new fewer than twenty five editions, published during 1728 and 1729. Telemann showed a streak of publishing genius here, including a variety of single movements in each edition. This meant that if you wanted to play a complete sonata you had to keep up your subscription to collect all the movements!

The first piece in Telemann’s Der getreue Music-Meister is the Recorder Sonata in F

Dotted through Der getreue Music-Meister you’ll find four solo sonatas for recorder, as well as Telemann’s wonderful ‘Girlfriends’ trio sonata (two recorders and basso continuo) which depicts women from classical history.

Many recorder players will start their explorations of Telemann’s recorder music with the Sonata in F major, which is only modestly challenging. For those who’d like to try playing this sonata with accompaniment, but don’t have a tame accompanist, I recommend looking at Tabea Debus’s Continuo Lines website where you can download performances of the three movements at different tempi. Tabea is planning to gradually expand the variety of repertoire available so do have a root around and you may find some other sonatas you’d like to explore with virtual continuo.

The F major Sonata is perhaps Telemann’s least demanding from a technical standpoint, although it does require a little courage and positivity to play the top C (an octave higher than the one just about the treble stave) in the final movement. It’s here you see Telemann thinking as a recorder player himself - Handel would never have dreamt of using such extreme notes. But Telemann knows this highest note is appropriate as it occurs at the climax of the movement.

Sonata in F major, performed by Erik Bosgraaf

The Sonata in C major is a favourite of mine, and was one of the first pieces of Telemann’s I learnt as a teenager. Here you really get a sense of the composer’s familiarity with the recorder, exploiting the high register for climactic moments in the music. Telemann also includes articulation marks throughout the sonata, some of them quirky, but always stylish and perfectly suited to the instrument. The final Vivace is a real musical firework, with energetically leaping arpeggios and flurries of demisemiquavers which sound very virtuosic. Of course, Telemann innately knew how to write sympathetically for the recorder so these whizzy passages lie beautifully under the fingers.

Sonata in C major, performed by Hyowon Lee

Perhaps the least well known of the recorder sonatas in Der getreue Music-Meister is the Sonata in B flat major. Unusually, this work is written as a strict canon, with the bassline following the recorder part at a few beats distance. In some hands such strict canonic writing would limit the possibilities of the music, but Telemann uses just as much variety and creativity as in his other sonatas.

Sonata in B flat, performed by Clas Pehrsson

Finally we have the Sonata in F minor, which Telemann suggests as being for recorder or bassoon. Here he ventures into a much darker soundworld, opening with a deliciously dramatic and chromatic Triste. The Allegro and Vivace movements are some of Telemann’s most finger-twisting, and a good grasp of flat key scales and arpeggios is a must if you’re to feel at home in F minor. It’s worth persevering though, as being at ease with this music will free you up to explore the dramatic possibilities of the music.

Sonata in F minor, performed by Erik Bosgraaf

As I researched this blog post I learnt it’s not just recorder players who pilfer music from other instruments and I couldn’t resist sharing another performance of the F minor Sonata with you - this time impeccably played on the trombone by Stefan Schulz!

Essercizii Musici

Telemann continued to explore the possibilities of publishing mixed collections of chamber music later in his life, and around 1739 he came up with Essercizii Musici. This collection contains two sets of twelve sonatas for one or two instruments and continuo, featuring combinations of recorder, flute, violin, oboe and viola da gamba, alongside a series of suites for solo harpsichord. Essercizii Musici includes two solo sonatas for recorder which, I think, are among his best.

In the Sonata in C major Telemann experiments with a fluidity of writing, shifting seamlesslybetween Adagio and Allegro tempi. Unusually the lilting Larghetto which follows is in F minor, offering a brief moment of serenity before the fireworks recommence in the final Vivace.

Sonata in C major, performed by Pamela Thorby

The second recorder work in this collection is the Sonata in D minor – my favourite among Telemann’s solo sonatas. This is Telemann at his most daring, with immense drama, big contrasts of dynamic and rapid mood swings.

The opening lines of the D minor Sonata, showing Telemann’s daring use of dynamics

Many a time I’ve programmed this piece as the finale of a recital (a role it fulfils perfectly), only to wonder what possessed me when I remember how much energy it demands at the end of a long concert! Erik Bosgraaf captures the drama perfectly in this performance, particularly with the seamless transition into a positively operatic Grave.

Sonata in D minor, performed by Erik Bosgraaf

 

The Recorder Sonatinas

Published 1731, Telemann’s two Sonatinas for recorder were part of a collection titled Neue Sonatinen für Clavier, Violine, Flûte trav und Flûte à bec. For a long while the bassline for these sonatas was lost, but a few years ago a complete manuscript of the same works (this time presented as violin sonatas) was discovered in Dresden. This discovery made it possible to perform the Sonatinas asnthe composer intended, although they are still less commonly heard than Telemann’s other recorder sonatas.

Both these works begin to look ahead, musically speaking, with a style which hints at the Galant – that transition between Baroque and Classical – especially in the effortlessly elegant slow movements.

In many ways the Sonatina in A minor feels like a close sibling of Telemann’s other minor key sonatas, exploring virtuosity and sinuous chromatic passages.  

Sonatina in A minor, performed by Stefan Temingh

The Sonatina in C minor is another piece which seems somewhat operatic to me, with contrasts of mood and unexpected shifts of harmony.

Sonatina in C minor, performed by Maurice Steger

 

Sonata in F minor

This final sonata is something of an outlier, and can be found in a single manuscript at the Bibliotheque du Conservatoire in Brussels. It’s less dramatic than Telemann’s others and perhaps feels like a more ‘generic’ Baroque sonata. That said, I do have a fondness for the opening Adagio, especially in this beautifully expressive performance by Saskia Coolen.

Recommended editions

There are countless editions of Telemann’s recorder sonatas, so I won’t go through each in turn. If you want a good, clean, complete edition you can’t go far wrong with Bernard Thomas’s Complete Original Recorder Sonatas published by Dolce (DOL124). Hortus Musicus publish a good edition of the sonatas from Der getreue Music-Meister (edition number HM6) and I’d recommend the Amadeus edition of the two Essercizii Musici sonatas (BP2052).

Of course, if you want to explore this wonderful repertoire before buying a published edition, it’s worth heading over to Telemann’s page on IMSLP and typing recorder into the ‘Search category’ box halfway down the page for copyright free editions.

Facsimile editions of both Der getreue Music-Meister and Essercizii Musici are available and both are quite easily read by modern eyes too. Both collections are published by Musica Repartita – MR250 for the former, and MR251 for the latter.

Further listening

It’s been a pleasure to explore the many recordings of Telemann’s Sonatas while researching this blog post and I’ve discovered some wonderful performances which I’ll keep returning to. Here are a few of my favourites:

  • Telemann: The Recorder Sonatas – Erik Bosgraaf & Francesco Corti (Brilliant Classics) Wonderfully dramatic performances and you can see videos of Erik playing most of them on his YouTube channel too.

  • Telemann Recorder Sonatas and Fantasias – Pamela Thorby with Peter Whelan, Alison McGillivray, Elizabeth Kenny & Marcin Świątkiewicz (Linn records) Pamela’s performance of the Essercizii Musici C major Sonata is wonderfully organic and the Fantasias are a lovely bonus. The continuo team is a mix of cello, lute, harpsichord and organ, creating great variety.

  • Telemann Recorder Sonatas and Fantasias – Frans Bruggen, Anner Bylsma & Gustav Leonhardt (Apex) These feel a little dated in places now, but worth exploring as in their time they were some of the best.

  • Telemann Sonatas No.1-7 – Saskia Coolen, Margriet Tindemans & Peter Watshorn (Globe). I particularly love Saskia’s spacious approach to the Affettuoso of the D minor Sonata. 

  • Telemann Solo and Trio Sonatas – Maurice Steger, Continuo Consort & Naoki Kitaya (Claves) – a real showman and it’s a joy to hear some of Telemann’s exquisite trio sonatas here too.

  • Telemann Cantatas for soprano and recorder – Stefan Temmingh, Dorothee Mields and continuo (Accent). A particularly lovely performance of the A minor Sonatina alongside cantatas and trio sonatas which all feature the recorder.

If you’ve enjoyed this romp through Telemann’s recorder sonatas please do let me know in the comments below which other composers you’d like me to explore. The recorder’s repertoire is enormously varied and I hope these posts may help you discover music, familiar and unknown, for our favourite instrument.

Likewise, if you have favourite editions of these works or other recordings you particularly enjoy do tell us about them in the comments below.