Twelve Fantasias for Flute, arranged for Recorder

Georg  Philipp  Telemann,  the  most  prolific composer of his time, and
widely regarded as Germany's leading composer during the first  half  of
the 18th century, was born in Magdeburg in 1681.

In  1725,  he  embarked  on an ambitious programme of publishing his own
music, even engraving his own plates, which he could do at a rate of  up
to  nine  or  ten per day.  By 1728 he had established agents in Berlin,
Leipzig, Jena, Nuremberg, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and London,  and  in  the
following  years he continued to expand his distribution network through
booksellers and friends.

Telemann wrote three autobiographies.   In  the  1729  autobiography  he
succinctly described his artistic development: "What I have accomplished
with respect to musical style is well  known.   First  came  the  Polish
style,  followed by the French, church, chamber and operatic styles, and
finally the Italian style, which currently occupies  me  more  than  the
others do."

Telemann  wrote  his Twelve Fantasias for Flute (TWV 40:2‐13) in Hamburg
during 1732 or 1733.  There are also sets of twelve  Fantasias  for  the
Viola  de  Gamba,  written in 1728, and for the Violin, written in 1735.
It is easy to underestimate his achievement in the light of J. S.  Bach,
but  if  Bach had not written his Flute partita, Cello suites and Violin
sonatas and partitas, the Telemann Fantasias would be the summit of  the
repertoire for the solo line.

The  scores  are  available  in  Volume  Six of Georg Philipp Telemann :
Musikalische Werke, published by the Gesellschaft für Musikforschung, M.
Ruhne,  W.  Hobohm  and  the Zentrum für Telemann‐Pflege und ‐Forschung,
Magdeburg (Kassel und Basel, 1950).

Telemann died of a chest ailment in 1767 in Hamburg.  His grandson Georg
Michael  inherited a large number of autographs and manuscript copies of
his vocal works.  The rest of his musical estate was sold at auction  in
Hamburg  on  the  6th  of  September 1769, and most of this material has
disappeared.