Code: JP1086
ISMN: 979-0-3019-0278-3
Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1757) was a prolific composer having completed over 3000 works including 1043 church cantatas, 46 settings of the Passion, and nearly 50 concertos for various instruments. The Partita V in E minor is taken from a set of chamber works published together under the title Die kleine Kammermusik in 1716, during the composer's tenure as director of music to the city of Frankfurt am Main. They are dedicated, not to a patron or ruler, but to outstanding oboists encountered by Telemann during the course of his career. One of the oboists was the Frenchman, François Le Riche (1662 - after 1733). Telemann had met him in 1702 and was greatly impressed by his artistry. Le Riche's German pupil, Johann Christian Richter (1689 - 1744) was also included in the dedication. How much they were admired can hardly be expressed better than by Telemann's own words: 'I venture to dedicate the present Kleine Kammermusik to you in the confidence that it will be benevolently regarded, since I have had the honour of being acquainted with numerous examples of your goodness and courtesy, which can never be praised highly enough. Whether, however, this work will meet with your approbation remains yet to be seen. Were this to be so, since your virtuosity is admired by half the world, it would be no small matter.' Telemann wrote further: 'I have limited the range as much as possible, avoided leaps across large distances as well as difficult and uncomfortable tones. On the other hand, I have attempted to provide a great number of the brilliant tones which nature has distributed at various places on this delicate instrument. I have also tried to be concise in the arias, partly in order not to tax the player...'
Although these pieces were clearly composed for the oboe, the publication also lists the option of using violin or flute. Telemann issued a second edition of these works in 1728, during the time he spent in Hamburg. A copy of this second edition at the Universitats und Landesbibliothek in Darmstadt is the source for this current publication.
The oboe part for this edition has been edited by Valarie Anderson. The set includes the original figured bass and a suggested realization by harpsichordist, Gail Olszewski. A basso continuo is also included with the parts for use with a harpsichord, but is not needed when a piano is substituted for the keyboard.
There are 7 short movements: opening with an Andante and followed by 6 "Arias".
