Injunction to Joy
Mention of Baroque “cantatas” or “oratorios” around the seasons of Advent and Christmas is most likely to evoke thoughts of the music of Bach or Handel. Unfortunately, the seasonal works by their less-celebrated contemporary Georg Philipp Telemann (1681–1767) are almost unknown, even among avid listeners to music from the early eighteenth century. Most of the music by Telemann that is played and heard today is from his large catalog of secular, instrumental music. But in his day, he was known best for his sacred choral compositions.
The son and grandson of Lutheran pastors, Telemann demonstrated early musical talent, composing his first opera at the age of 12. His mother was apparently set against his pursuing a career in music; she is said to have confiscated his violin, flute, and zither and forbade him to compose anymore, fearing that a life in music would only lead him in the ways of the ungodly. Encouraged, however, by various teachers to develop his talents, throughout his teens he enthusiastically performed and composed for church and school events.
At the age of 20 (perhaps in deference to his mother) he set off to study law at Leipzig University, stopping on the way in Halle to meet a talented teenager named Handel. After Telemann settled in at the university, a roommate spotted a musical setting of Psalm 6 among his belongings, and arranged for it to be sung at the Thomaskirche (where Bach would later enjoy the most fruitful years of his career). The mayor of Leipzig heard Telemann’s composition and was so impressed that he commissioned him to compose music fortnightly for use in the city’s churches. Studies in law were soon abandoned.
But a remarkably prolific musical career was inexorably launched, which included nine years in Frankfurt and an amazing four-and-a-half productive decades in Hamburg. The BBC’s Donald Macleod has observed that Telemann “probably composed more music than Bach and Handel put together, and the sheer quantity of his work has probably tarnished his reputation for modern audiences [who assume that] if music flowed from him like water from a tap, surely most of it can’t be any good.” Today, more than 3,600 works have survived either in print or manuscript. The cantatas alone—written for liturgical use—account for between 1,400 and 1,700 compositions, on top of which were dozens of settings of the Passion for use during Holy Week.
Announcing Christ’s Coming
In that extensive collection are over 200 works written for use during Advent and Christmas, most of which have never been recorded or even published in modern performance scores. But among those that one can hear today are some remarkable gems.
Consider, for example, his two settings (in 1710 and 1717) of a libretto by the Lutheran pastor, poet, and theologian Erdmann Neumeister, Nun komm der Heiden Heiland (“Now come, Savior of the nations”). As in Bach’s two Advent cantatas with the same name, Telemann’s works begin with a chorus singing the first stanza of a hymn by Luther (for more about the history of this hymn, see “Ancient Maranatha Music” in the November/December 2018 issue of Touchstone).
In Telemann’s 1717 setting, the somber opening chorus (developing Luther’s familiar melody) is followed by a bass aria, introduced with trumpets, timpani, and strings echoing a royal fanfare. “The Savior has come,” sings the soloist triumphantly. “The sighs have stopped.”
Later, an extended bass recitative announces the coming of Christ into the life of the Church in the coming year. Advent honors an historical event (the King has come), an eschatological certainty (the King is coming), and a present existential demand (the King must rule in our lives now). “Your Zion [i.e., the Church] looks to you and asks sincerely: Give fruit for teaching and hearing. Guard the house of which you are Head and King.”
A subsequent soprano aria reminds the congregation gathered for worship: “Pure in faith, pure in heart make a proper church year.” The cantata concludes with a chorus singing words from Psalm 51: “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.”
A Timely Exhortation
Ken Myers is the host and producer of the Mars Hill Audio Journal. Formerly an arts editor with National Public Radio, he also serves as music director at All Saints Anglican Church in Ivy, Virginia. He is a contributing editor for Touchstone.
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