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Content:

5 musicians

Version A: oboe, violin, viola, cello & harpsichord

Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
Oboe sonata in g, TWV 41:g6 (Musique de table, 1733)
Largo – Presto – Tempo Giusto – Da Capo

Fantasia 8 for harpsichord in g TWV 33:8
Cantabile – Allegro

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Choral ‘O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden’

Johann Gottlieb Janitsch (1708-1762)
Sonata da camera in g, ‘O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden’
Largo e mestoso – Allegretto – Adagio ma non troppo – Vivace non troppo

***

Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
Trio sonata for violin, viola & continuo in D, TWV 42:D11
Allegro – Adagio – Vivace

Oboe concerto in D, TWV 51:D5
Adagio

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Sonata for violin & harpsichord in A, BWV 1015
Andante un poco, Presto

+++ Break +++

Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
Fantasia for traverso in g, TWV 40:13
Grave – Allegro – Grave – Allegro – Dolce – Allegro – Presto

Suite for traverso, violin and bass in d, TWV 42:d3
Dolce – Allegro – Dolce – Allegro – Adagio – Moderato – Vivace

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Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Cello Suite in G, BWV 1007
Menuet II

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788)
Oboe sonata in g, H.549
Adagio – Vivace

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Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
Sonata for recorder, violin and continuo, TWV 42:F8
Andante – Allegro – Largo – Allegro

***

Johann Gottlieb Janitsch (1708-1762)
Quartet in c, from 5 Quartets
Poco largo, Alla breve, Allegro moderato

Version B: traverso, oboe, violin, viola, cello & harpsichord

Johann Gottlieb Janitsch

• Sonata da camera for flute, oboe, viola & basso continuo in c, Op. 1 nr. 1
• Sonata da chiesa for flute, violin, viola & basso continuo Op. 7, nr. 2
• “O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden” Sonata da camera for oboe, 2 violas & basso continuo in g
• Quartet for flute, 2 violas & basso continuo in C
• “Echo” Sonata da camera for flute, oboe, violin, viola & basso continuo in D, Op. 5, nr. 1

About version A: This programme is an ode to German instrumental chamber music from the first half of the 18th century. We present it in all its facets, from solo pieces to quartets in various combinations with winds, strings and harpsichord. Two composers not to be missed in such an anthology are, of course, Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Philipp Telemann; their compositions occupy an important place in the chamber music repertoire. Bach gained this recognition  after his death, Telemann already during his lifetime, partly because he took charge by publishing and distributing many compositions himself, while Bach’s works long existed only in manuscripts. Two German chamber music composers who, in our opinion, are unjustly somewhat more in the shade are Johann Gottlieb Janitsch and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. The four composers represented in this programme were connected: for his son Carl Philipp Emanuel, Johann Sebastian Bach chose his friend and colleague Georg Philipp Telemann as godfather, later Carl Philipp, like Janitsch, worked for Frederick the Great and that workplace was visited several times by Johann Sebastian Bach.
The composition around which this programme is built is the quartet for oboe, violin, viola and basso continuo by Johann Gottlieb Janitsch nicknamed ‘O Haupt’. Indeed, in the third movement, the oboe plays the chorale melody ‘O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden’ that Johann Sebastian Bach also uses in his St Matthew Passion. With the latter version, we introduce Janitsch’s piece of the same name. Janitsch was praised even in his day for his excellence in getting the different instruments in his quartets to dialogue equally, a complex stroke of compositional technique. This fascinating aspect of his compositional talent comes out clearly in the two quartets of this programme.
A kind of ‘dialogue piece’ that a larger number of Baroque composers ventured into was the trio sonata in which two soloists dialogue with each other, and sometimes also with the basso continuo. Telemann wrote such sonatas for the most special line-ups, for example for horn and recorder, oboe and discant gamba and flute and viola d’amore, in each case with basso continuo. The combination of recorder and violin that appears in this programme is less surprising; the combination with violin and viola is more unique, as the viola was usually given a middle voice function at the time. By the way, this is by no means the case in this programme thanks to the rich viola parts in this trio sonata and in Janitsch’s quartets. In a concerto, there is a dialogue between one or a few soloists and the ensemble or orchestra. When the ‘orchestra’ consists of just two strings and basso continuo, as in the Telemann concerto we chose, this genre also belongs entirely to the world of chamber music.
The most intimate form of chamber music is solo playing. Solo music for harmonic instruments such as harpsichord (which can play several voices simultaneously), is found at all times and in all countries in Western musical history. Solo pieces for melody instruments without accompaniment are much rarer. Bach and Telemann are among the few Baroque composers who ventured into this sphere, where they ingeniously compensate for the lack of harmonic support by using mock polyphony; jumping back and forth between different registers of the instrument creates the impression of different voices. Much more common was to accompany a soloist on a melody instrument with basso continuo, as in the sonatas of Telemann and C. P. E. Bach. A newer form of sonata gave the harpsichord an obligatory part, rather than a basso continuo part, with ‘both hands’ dialoguing with the melody instrument as in Bach’s sonata for violin and harpsichord.
Inspired by 18th century examples, we have not limited ourselves to sequencing complete sonatas and concertos, but have instead made a selection of movements here and there and connected stand-alone pieces to create our own varied sets of pieces.

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