Telling Tales with Telemann: March

TELLING TALES WITH TELEMANN

TELEMANN Der Harmonische Gottesdienst: ‘Schaut die Demut Palmen tragen’ (Palm Sunday) AESOP The Oak and the Reeds TELEMANN Sonata for Oboe in Bb Major TELEMANN Trio Sonata in G Major Recorded at St Giles Cripplegate

Oboe Katharina Spreckelsen Viola da Gamba/Cello Jonathan Manson Organ/Harpsichord Steven Devine Theorbo David Miller Soprano Miriam Allan

Technical Director and Post Production Zen Grisdale Camera Operators Sophie Adams Ed Ault Edward Shaw Operations Assistants Henry Ashmall Nathanael Jordine Vision Mix Crispin Woodhead Audio Engineer Ben Connellan Music Producer Andrew Roberts Grip Adrian Bending

PROGRAMME NOTES DER HARMONISCHE GOTTESDIENST:

‘SCHAUT DIE DEMUT PALMEN TRAGEN’ (PALM SUNDAY) Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)

Aria Recitative Aria

In the summer of 1722, by a unanimous vote, Georg Philipp Telemann was offered the post of Kantor at St Thomas’s Church in Leipzig. He turned it down. Disappointed, the chairman of the appointments committee declared that “since the best man could not be hired, a mediocre one will have to be tolerated instead” - and gave the post to Johann Sebastian Bach. It’s a story that makes modern jaws drop, but it does demonstrate Telemann’s reputation as a composer of sacred music (and his lifetime total of more than 1000 cantatas makes Bach look like a part-timer).

Telemann had completed one entire cycle of 72 church cantatas (one for each Sunday and feast day in the liturgical year) even before he moved to Hamburg in 1721. Hamburg was a prosperous trading city, and Telemann hit upon the profitable idea of publishing another complete set. Der Harmonische Gottersdienst was published in 1726, and each of its 72 short cantatas was scored for a single singer, a solo instrumentalist and a continuo –

making them usable by even the smallest churches. Schaut die Demut-Palmen tragen is the cantata for Palm Sunday. The soloist sings words by the Hamburg poet Matthaeus Wilckens, while an oboe echoes and embroiders the melody – with the steady walking rhythm of the opening aria evoking Christ’s donkey-ride into Jerusalem.

SONATA FOR OBOE IN Bb MAJOR (TWV 41:B6)

TRIO SONATA IN G MAJOR (TWV 42:G6)

Adagio Allegro Cantabile Vivace

Andante Allegro Largo Presto

I have nothing further to present other than to solicit from amateurs of music an opinion well-disposed toward me, as much with this as my other work, that I may remain, your most humble and obedient Telemann.

Telemann was a supremely practical musician. A self-taught violinist, harpsichordist and recorder player, he set himself to master every aspect of his art. “Fired by enthusiasm”, as he recalled in his autobiography:

The dedication with which Telemann headed his anthology of chamber music Der getreue Musikmeister (1728-29) makes his intention absolutely clear – he aimed to please. Telemann’s home city of Hamburg was filled with prosperous and enthusiastic musical amateurs, and Telemann saw himself as craftsman, merchant, entertainer and tutor – producing numerous collections of chamber music with which amateur players could hone their own skills, and delight family and friends.

There’s no such preface to the Essercizii Musici (1740), but by that stage, Telemann probably didn’t feel it was necessary. This collection contained two solo sonatas and two Trio Sonatas apiece for each of six different instruments, so whatever the instruments available when you gathered friends for a soirée at your Hamburg townhouse, you’d find something enjoyable to play. They were adaptable too: the solo part in this oboe sonata could also be played by violin or flute, as long as the performer had nimble fingers and a gift (in the lilting, cantabile third movement) for expressive, singing melody.

I also turned to learning how to play the oboe, transverse flute, chalumeau, viola da gamba and even the contrabass and the bass trombone.

He didn’t know it at the time, but it was excellent training for his later career in Hamburg. Telemann became a leader of musical fashion in this great port city, and he found a ready market for collections of chamber music aimed at Hamburg’s prosperous and lively musical public. Telemann considered himself a particular master of the Trio Sonata, in which two musical voices converse to the accompaniment of a third, the continuo (which could comprise several instruments – typically a harpsichord and a cello). In this example from his Essercizii Musici (1740), the harpsichord is one of the two voices participating in the musical conversation with the viola da gamba.

Telemann played both instruments, and he creates an elegant alternation of slow, expressive music (including an impassioned minor-key third movement) and the kind of spirited, articulate musical conversation that 18th century musicians enjoyed performing, and audiences loved to hear.

Richard Bratby

AESOP'S FABLE The Oak and the Reeds A very large oak was uprooted by the wind, and thrown across a stream. It fell among some Reeds, which it thus addressed: I wonder how you, who are so light and weak, are not entirely crushed by these strong winds. They replied: You fight and contend with the wind, and consequently you are destroyed; while we, on the contrary, bend before the least breath of air, and therefore remain unbroken.

BEETHOVEN OCTET IN E FLAT

BACH ST JOHN PASSION

HANDEL MESSIAH

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

HANDEL APOLLO E DAFNE

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TRANSLATION ‘Schaut die Demut Palmen tragen’ 1. Arie Schaut die Demut Palmen tragen, Behold humility bearing palms, welche Gott erhöhet hat. that God has exalted.

Schauet Jesum in der Krone,

2. Rezitativ Der Heiland war in göttlicher Gestalt The saviour was in godlike form und doch entschlug er sich der Hoheit und Gewalt and yet he cast away greatness and power ließ Herrlichkeit und Reich left glory and kingdom

Behold Jesus in the crown,

und wurd ein Mensch, ja, gar dem ärmsten Menschen gleich.

der von höchsten Freudenthrone

and became a man, indeed, as the poorest of men.

who stepped down willingly from the highest throne of joy willig in die Kluft der Plagen into the chasm of torment in die Welt voll Jammer trat. into the world of suffering.

Jetzt ist er wiederum erhöht, jetzt beugen sich vor seiner Majestät die Knie derer, die auf Erden, Now he is exalted again, now before his majesty those on earth, die in des Himmels weitem Schoss und unter uns gefunden werden. in Heaven’s great palace and amongst us bend their knee.

Ach jeder sei also, wie Christus war, gesinnt, und lasse sich vom Hochmut nicht bestricken; Ah may everyone be minded as was Christ, and let himself not be smitten by pride; den Gott erhöhen soll, der muss sich erstlich bücken; he whom God should raise up, must first bow down; den Gott zum Grössten macht, derwird vorher ein Kind, Gott ist’s, der auf das Niedre siehet;

dies nimmt er hierin auch in acht: and in this he also heeds: wer sich für nichts in seinen Augen hält, whomever counts himself as nothing in his own eyes, den wird er dort in jenem Leben he will then in the life beyond zu alles machen und erheben. exalt and make whole.

he whom God makes the greatest, he first becomes a child, God it is, who looks upon the lowly;

Drum strebe nicht, mit blindem Ringen,

er liebt ein Herz, wo Demut blühet

nach eitlen Dingen.

he loves a heart where humility flourishes, und was sich dieser weiht, erhöhet er zu seiner Zeit. and whoever dedicates himself so, he lifts in his time.

Er hat die Welt aus nichts gemacht, He made the world from nothing,

Therefore do not strive, in blind struggle,

after vain things.

Was sind sie? Falsch‘ und flücht’ge Schatten; What are they? False and fleeting shadows; dort wird sich erst Bestand und Wesen gatten. only then are essence and existence as one.

TRANSLATION CONTINUED Räumt aber ja die Welt die Ehre dir schon hier und ohne Suchen, ein, But should the world already grant you unsought honours in life so lass‘ die Würde nicht des Hochmuts Stützen sein. do not let rank become the pillar of pride.

3. Arie Ihr, die ihr nur das Eitle liebet, You, who only love vain things, ihr sucht die Hoheit hier zu früh. you are seeking greatness too soon on earth.

Die Ehre so die Welt uns giebet The honour that the world grants us ist noch vergänglicher, als sie. is even more fleeting than it is.

Translated by Crispin Woodhead.

MIRIAM ALLAN

The “sublime singing” (Gramophone, 2017) of Soprano Miriam Allan has been enjoyed across the world, from her native Australia, through Japan and Singapore, as well as at festivals throughout Europe and North America.

Recent highlights include Bach cantatas at the BBC Proms, a recital of Dowland lute songs within the enclaves of Windsor Castle and performances with the Queensland Orchestra and Erin Helyard.

On the opera stage she is a regular company soloist with Pinchgut Opera, for whom she has sung Isifile (Giasone, Cavalli) and Costanza (Griselda, Vivaldi).

For the Innsbruck Festival she has sung Galatea (Acis & Galatea, Handel), whilst she has taken various roles in The Fairy Queen for Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Opera Comique, Paris, and Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York. Other roles include Queen of the Night (Magic Flute, Mozart), Musica and Proserpina (Orfeo, Monteverdi) and various roles in Dardanus, Rameau.

She has appeared alongside Sir John Eliot Gardiner & English Baroque Soloists, Masaaki Suzuki and Bach Collegium Japan, Nicholas Collon & Aurora Orchestra and Lars Ulrik Mortensen and Concerto Copenhagen as well as conductors William Christie, Stephen Layton and Laurence Cummings and orchestras the BBC Philharmonic, Melbourne Symphony, Les Violins du Roy, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Academy of Ancient Music.

She has sung Mozart Mass in C Minor in Lincoln Centre, New York, Bach Magnificat in the Musikverein, Vienna, Handel Messiah in Sydney Opera House, Haydn Die Schöpfung at the Barbican, London, Rameau In Convertando in Chapelle Royale, Versailles and appeared in Mozart Opera Galas at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and Salle Pleyel, Paris.

Her discography includes the Gramophone award winning series of Monteverdi Madrigals with Les Arts Florissants and Paul Agnew, with whom she can also be seen in the DVD release of Orfeo as Proserpina, as well as the Mozart Requiem with Leipzig Kammerorchester, a recital of Handel and Purcell on ABC Classics and Pinchgut Opera’s series of live recordings.

ABOUT THE OAE Over three decades ago, a group of inquisitive London musicians took a long hard look at that curious institution we call the Orchestra, and decided to start again from scratch. They began by throwing out the rulebook. Put a single conductor in charge? No way. Specialise in repertoire of a particular era? Too restricting.

Perfect a work and then move on? Too lazy. The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment was born.

And so the story continues, with ever more momentum and vision. The OAE’s series of nocturnal Night Shift performances have redefined concert parameters. Its association at London’s Kings Place has fostered further diversity of planning and music-making. The ensemble has formed the bedrock for some of Glyndebourne’s most ground-breaking recent productions.

And as this distinctive ensemble playing on period-specific instruments began to get a foothold, it made a promise to itself. It vowed to keep questioning, adapting and inventing as long as it lived. Those original instruments became just one element of its quest for authenticity.

Baroque and Classical music became just one strand of its repertoire. Every time the musical establishment thought it had a handle on what the OAE was all about, the ensemble pulled out another shocker: a Symphonie Fantastique here, some conductor-less Bach there. All the while, the Orchestra’s players called the shots.

In keeping with its values of always questioning, challenging and trailblazing, in September 2020, the OAE became the resident orchestra of Acland Burghley School, Camden. The residency – a first for a British orchestra – allows the OAE to live, work and play amongst the students of the school.

In some small way, the OAE changed the classical music world too. It challenged those distinguished partner organisations and brought the very best from them, too. Symphony and opera orchestras began to ask it for advice.

Existing period instrument groups started to vary their conductors and repertoire. New ones popped up all over Europe and America.

Of the instrumentalists, many remain from those brave first days; many have come since. All seem as eager and hungry as ever. They’re offered ever greater respect, but continue only to question themselves. Because still, they pride themselves on sitting ever so slightly outside the box. They wouldn’t want it any other way. ©Andrew Mellor

OAE TEAM Chief Executive Crispin Woodhead Finance and Governance Director Pascale Nicholls Development Director Emily Stubbs Projects Director Jo Perry Education Director Cherry Forbes Communications Director Doug Buist General Manager Edward Shaw Education Officer Andrew Thomson Projects Manager (Maternity) Sophie Adams Finance Officer Fabio Lodato Digital Content Officer Zen Grisdale Marketing and Press Officer Anna Bennett Box Office and Data Manager Paola Rossi Development Manager Kiki Betts-Dean Development Officer Luka Lah Projects Officer Ed Ault

Operations Assistants Henry Ashmall Nathanael Jordine Orchestra Consultant Philippa Brownsword Choir Manager David Clegg Librarian Roy Mowatt Leaders Huw Daniel Kati Debretzeni Margaret Faultless Matthew Truscott Players’ Artistic Committee Adrian Bending Steven Devine Max Mandel Andrew Roberts Katharina Spreckelsen Principal Artists John Butt Sir Mark Elder Iván Fischer Vladimir Jurowski Sir Simon Rattle Sir András Schiff Emeritus Conductors William Christie Sir Roger Norrington

Life President Sir Martin Smith Board of Directors Imogen Overli [Chairman] Daniel Alexander Steven Devine Denys Firth Adrian Frost Max Mandel David Marks Rebecca Miller Andrew Roberts Katharina Spreckelsen Matthew Shorter Dr. Susan Tranter Crispin Woodhead OAE Trust Adrian Frost [Chairman] Mark Allen Paul Forman Steven Larcombe Alison McFadyen Imogen Overli Rupert Sebag-Montefiore Maarten Slendebroek Sir Martin Smith Caroline Steane Honorary Council Sir Victor Blank Edward Bonham Carter Cecelia Bruggemeyer Nigel Jones Stephen Levinson Marshall Marcus Julian Mash Greg Melgaard Susan Palmer OBE Jan Schlapp Diane Segalen Susannah Simons Lady Smith OBE Rosalyn Wilkinson Mark Williams

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James Flynn QC - Co-Principal Lute/Theorbo Jonathan and Tessa Gaisman – Viola Michael and Harriet Maunsell - Principal Keyboard Jenny and Tim Morrison - Second Violin Caroline Noblet – Oboe Professor Richard Portes - Principal Bassoon Christina – Flute John and Rosemary Shannon - Principal Horn Sue Sheridan OBE – Education Roger and Pam Stubbs - Clarinet Crispin Woodhead and Christine Rice - Principal Timpani Associate Patrons Charles and Julia Abel Smith Noël and Caroline Annesley Sir Richard Arnold and Mary Elford Hugh and Michelle Arthur David and Marilyn Clark Damaris Albarrán David Emmerson Jonathan Parker Charitable Trust Elisabeth Green in memory of June Mockett Roger Heath MBE and Alison Heath MBE Peter and Sally Hilliar Moira and Robert Latham Sir Timothy and Lady Lloyd Roger Mears and Joanie Speers Rebecca Miller David Mildon in memory of Lesley Mildon John Nickson and Simon Rew Andrew and Cindy Peck Stephen and Penny Pickles Peter Rosenthal Emily Stubbs and Stephen McCrum Shelley von Strunckel Mr J Westwood

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APPEAL DONORS We have been overwhelmed by the support of our audiences since the beginning of the pandemic. Many of you have generously helped us tackle this challenging time by donating to our Regeneration Appeal. We gratefully acknowledge those donors below Charles and Julia Abel Smith Mark and Sue Allen Deborah Anthony Julian and Annette Armstrong Hugh and Michelle Arthur John Birks Sir Victor Blank Bob and Elisabeth Boas A & FDW Boettcher William Bordass Mr Roger Bowerman Ms Susan Bracken Neil Brock Sir Anthony Cleaver

Professor Susan Cooper Ms Harriet Copperman Dr David Cox Gill Cox Stephen and Patricia Crew Mrs Melanie Edge Esmee Fairbairn Foundation Ms Margaret Faultless Denys and Vicki Firth Adrian Frost Jennifer Frost Jonathan N Gaisman, QC Dr David Glynn Roy Greenhalgh David Guthrie Martin Haddon Ray Harsant Roger Heath MBE and Alison Heath MBE Peter and Sally Hilliar Nigel Jones and Françoise Valat-Jones Jerome Karter Sue Lamble Steven Larcombe Sir Timothy Lloyd and Lady Lloyd Dr Alan Lord Stanley Lowy, MBE Ellie Makri Michael and Harriet Maunsell Tim and Jenny Morrison Mr Clive Murgatroyd, MBE Robert Nash John Nickson & Simon Rew Andrew Nurnberg Johanna Nusselein Imogen and Haakon Overli Andrew and Cindy Peck Mike Raggett Ruth and David Samuels Laura Sheldon Sue Sheridan OBE Maarten and Taina Slendebroek Sir Martin Smith and Lady Smith OBE Michael Spagat Caroline Steane Para Sun Iain Taylor Christopher Tew Lady Marina Vaizey, CBE Eva Maria Valero Mark and Rosamund Williams Peter Williams

WE MOVED INTO A SCHOOL In September 2020, we took up permanent residence at Acland Burghley School in Camden, North London. The residency – a first for a British orchestra – allows us to live, work and play amongst the students of the school.

Three offices have been adapted for our administration team, alongside a recording studio and library. We use the Grade II listed school assembly hall as a rehearsal space, with plans to refurbish it under the school’s ‘A Theatre for All’ project. The school isn't just our landlord or physical home.

Instead, it allows us to build on twenty years of work in the borough through OAE’s long-standing partnership with Camden Music. Having already worked in eighteen of the local primary schools that feed into ABS, the plans moving forward are to support music and arts across the school into the wider community. Our move underpins our core ‘enlightenment’ mission of reaching as wide an audience as possible.

What do backflips, smoke machines and baroque drums all have in common? Answer: our first video collaboration with Acland Burghley students. We teamed up with year 10 students who performed an original dance that they choreographed for their GCSE exam, accompanied by us performing Rameau’s ‘Danse des Sauvages’ from Les Indes Galantes. The pupils were given their own agency in carving out the framework of the project. After taking inspiration from baroque dances on YouTube and being drawn to the distinctive rhythmic pulse in the Rameau, the pupils sparked enthusiastic discussion with our players to allow the choreograph and music to evolve hand in hand. They also had their say in the direction and recording of the music video, which you can watch on our YouTube channel.

We brought The Moon Hares, an opera for young families which we commissioned in 2019, into the school hall and performed it alongside pupils from ABS as well as Gospel Oak and Kentish Town primary schools. The electrifying performance included music both old and new, with sections from Purcell’s 17th century opera Dioclesian mixed with modern music by James Redwood.

There’s also been a bustle of activity away from the camera in our ongoing private classroom education. We’ve delivered numerous interactive workshops for all students in years 7, 8 and 9, including an exploration of the orchestra’s instruments, illustrated sessions on blues and jazz compositional techniques as part of curriculum studies and a study a day for all GCSE music students on Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No.4.

The move has been made possible with a leadership grant from The Linbury Trust, one of the Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts.

OAE EDUCATION A PROGRAMME TO INVOLVE, EMPOWER AND INSPIRE Over the past twenty years OAE Education has grown in stature and reach to involve thousands of people nationwide in creative music projects. Our participants come from a wide range of backgrounds and we pride ourselves in working flexibly, adapting to the needs of local people and the places they live.

The extensive partnerships we have built up over many years help us engage fully with all the communities where we work to ensure maximum and lasting impact.

We take inspiration from the OAE's repertoire, instruments and players.

This makes for a vibrant, challenging and engaging programme where everyone is involved; players, animateurs, composers, participants, teachers, partners and stakeholders all have a valued voice.

SUPPORT OUR EDUCATION PROGRAMME The work we do could not happen without the support of our generous donors.

If you would like to support our education programme please contact Emily Stubbs, Development Director emily.stubbs@oae.co.uk

We are grateful to Jenny and Tim and our friends at St Jude’s Churc

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Registered company number 2040312.

Acland Burghley School, 93 Burghley Road, London NW5 1UH 0208 159 9310 | info@oae.co.uk