Telemann Fantasias

Telemann’s viola da gamba fantasies are significant works in the player’s repertoire, elegantly complementing the German repertoire, of which the most famous pieces are Johann Sebastian Bach’s sonatas for viola da gamba and obbligato harpsichord. According to the most current information, it appears that these Bach sonatas were composed in the late 1730s or early in the following decade, just a few years after Telemann’s fantasies.

Telemann may have written his twelve fantasias for the amateur market, but he would surely have rejoiced to hear such superlative performances as these. Alina Ibragimova again demonstrates just what can be accomplished on the four strings of a solo violin.

Musicians have long known about the existence of Telemann's Fantasias for viola da gamba, but until very recently no surviving copies had ever been located. Fortunately a single print edition was identified by two musicologists in the Lower Saxony State Archive in Germany. In 2016 these important pieces were at last presented to the world in a modern edition which includes a complete facsimile of the original print. John Dornenburg has made numerous recordings for Centaur Records. After many years based in San Francisco, he is now based in the U.K.

Telemann's 12 Fantasias for solo flute are problematical works. They exist in a single Italian manuscript, designated as being for the violin, and with the name of Telemann penciled in after the fact. A flute or recorder seems more likely than a violin for the seventh-to-low-tonic cadences and other turns of phrase that frequently occur in the music, and Telemann does indeed seem a likely composer. The 12 pieces look like sonatas at first glance, with sequences of mostly three or four short movements in with Italian tempo designations (including the intriguing "spirituoso"), but they turn out to be fantasias as advertised; some of the movements are extremely short, and several of the longer ones are broken up into tiny chunks.