Review: [untitled]

Author(s): Steven Zohn

Reviewed work(s): Georg Philipp Telemann: Autographe und Abschriften. Kataloge by
Joachim Jaenecke
Source: Music & Letters, Vol. 76, No. 1, (Feb., 1995), pp. 96-98
Published by: Oxford University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/737773
Accessed: 07/08/2008 08:53

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the musical language in its own right) than the
others; but for the missing music examples, one
might almost be reading the New OxfordHistoryof
Music.
The density of the writing, which one could
define as the amount of pure information packed
into each page, varies greatly from author to
author. At one extreme, we have Julie Anne
Sadie's chapter on Paris and Versailles (standing
proxy for the whole of France), which, with its
unending parade of names, places and dates, is
hard to read at one stretch-but, of course, ideal
for dipping into in order to extract facts. At the
other extreme comes Malcolm Boyd's chapter on
Rome, concise and readable, which prefers to
elaborate a few salient points ratherthan mention
every small detail. The most successful chapters
are those that steer a mid-course between density
and readability. I would single out George Stauf-
fer's chapter on Leipzig, which should forcefully
disabuse any who still believe that Bach lan-
guished in a cultural backwater, and Donald
Burrows's chapter on London, which in its very
style of writing conveys the liveliness of our metro-
politan scene. It is no accident that the most
information-packedchapters deal with areas that
have been most thoroughly researched by
musicology. One very useful featureof the book is
the Bibliographical Note that follows each
chapter; here one can discover at a glance the
current state of knowledge (or ignorance) on the
given topic.
A minor disappointment is that while the con-
tributions are without exception long on fact,
most are short on analytical discussion. In that
respect, the goal, stated in the preface, of explain-
ing 'not simply what happened, but why it
happened, and why it happened when and where
it did' is not quite fulfilled. Of course, there are
exceptions: Selfridge-Field's chapter positively
brims over with ideas-some so bold that one is
surprised to find them in a reference work of this
kind-and Staufferand Burrowsare more reflect-
ive than most of the other authors. One of the
most interesting treatments of a 'problem' occurs
in Louise Stein's chapter on the Iberian penin-
sula, where, in the course of a fascinating in-
formative account, she explains why the paths of
music in Spain and Portugal diverged. But the
approach of most contributions is that of a chron-
icle, not of an investigation.
The standard of factual accuracy appears to be
high. I noticed very few simple errorsof fact, none
of them serious. One howler I did spot-a
reference to 'Homer's Aeneid' on page 283-is
fortunately an isolated occurrence. Production
96
standards are equally high, with some very fine
and apposite illustrations. It is to some un-
identified person's great credit that the quality of
English in the chapterswritten by foreign scholars
(including Rudolf Rasch on the Dutch Republic
and the late Bernd Baselt on Brandenburg-
Prussia and the central German courts) is com-
parable with that of the chapters by native
speakers.
I have my doubts about the utility of the
Chronology at the end of the volume. This is a
record of notable events for each year between
1671 and 1750, organized in five columns: 'Music
and Musicians'; 'Politics, War, Rulers'; 'Literat-
ure, Philosophy, Religion'; 'Science, Technology,
Discovery'; 'Fine and Decorative Arts, Archi-
tecture'. To my mind, this kind of 'instant know-
ledge' approach belongs to the world of television
quizzes, not to a scholarly history: it lays the
volume open to the very charge of positivism
against which it ought to be defending itself vigor-
ously. The index is also a disappointment, being
rather too short and not wholly reliable.
This useful and timely volume shows up the
inherent advantages and disadvantages of multi-
authorship. On one hand, its authoritativeness,its
breadth of coverage, its up-to-the-minuteness,
could hardly be equalled by a single author.
Against that, it is disparatein style and treatment,
lacking a controlling vision. Such interesting and
important questions as the patterns of movement
by operatic singers on the international circuit
tend to fall between the cracks, since no single
author has obvious responsibility for mentioning
them. But I cannot imagine that any reader, how-
ever well informed, will fail to learn much from
this book, and I have a strong feeling that one or
two of its chapters will quickly achieve 'seminal'
status.
MICHAEL TALBOT
GeorgPhilippTelemann:AutographeundAbschriften.
Kataloge. By Joachim Jaenecke. pp. 453.
'Staatsbibliothekzu Berlin-Preussischer Kul-
turbesitz: Kataloge der Musikabteilung', I/vii.
(Henle, Munich, 1993, DM325. ISBN 3-
87328-069-8.)
Telemann studies have been developing
strongly in recent years. In addition to a dramatic
increase in the number of articles, monographs
and dissertations devoted to Telemann's music,
the thematic catalogue has been virtually com-
pleted, the plan of the selected critical edition
published by Biirenreiter has been expanded to
encompass 60 volumes by 2004, and a serial
publication of Telemann-Dokumente (modelled on
the Bach-Dokumentevolumes) is imminent. The
most recent publication of note, Joachim
Jaenecke's catalogue of the Berlin manuscript
sources, has been eagerly awaited by Telemann
enthusiasts for a number of years. Although the
manuscript of the catalogue had been completed
in 1986, its publication was delayed until after the
appearance of Jaenecke's catalogue of the Berlin
Joseph and Michael Haydn manuscripts (1990).
Fortunately, however, this seven-year delay has
enhanced the comprehensivenessof the Telemann
catalogue: two private collections containing
manuscript sources were acquired by the Staats-
bibliothek zu Berlin-Preussischer Kulturbesitz,
during this time, while political developments in
Germany enabled the listing of 37 Telemann auto-
graphs and 29 manuscript copies preservedat the
Deutsche Staatsbibliothek, Berlin. This brought
the repertorycovered by the catalogue to 136 auto-
graphs and 379 manuscript copies of Telemann's
works, as well as eighteen manuscripts containing
music by the composer's grandson,Georg Michael
Telemann (1748-183 1).
The collection of the combined Berlin libraries
is particularly rich in sacred vocal music (espe-
cially cantatas) but also includes a significant
number of secular cantatas, operas and Burger-
kapitdnsmusiken (each consisting of a serenata and
an oratorio). Relatively few of the manuscripts
contain instrumental works, and many that do
are copies of printed collections or are peripheral
sources from the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries. The importance of the collection has
grown as the result of recent additions, among
which are a previously unknown autograph
cantata apparently written for the coronation of
the Emperor Charles VI in Frankfurtin 1711 (N.
Mus. ms. 497) and a manuscript containing
thirteen cantatas previously considered lost (N.
Mus. ms. 10 814). As a whole, the Berlin collec-
tion is unsurpassed in its holdings of eighteenth-
century manuscript sources of Telemann's vocal
music.
Jaenecke divides the catalogue into four parts:
a listing of autograph manuscripts, a listing of
manuscript copies, illustrations of 52 copyists'
hands, and a substantial number of indexes.
Because of their importance, the autographs are
described in somewhat greater detail than the
copies. But Jaenecke provides ample and clearly-
organized physical descriptions of every manu-
script, as well as information relating to
provenance, dating, modern editions and second-
97
ary literature.Indeed, the catalogue includes sub-
stantially more information on these sources than
is currently available in thematic catalogues
(Werner Menke, Thematisches Verzeichnis der
Vokalwerkevon Georg Philipp Telemann, Frankfurt,
1982-3; and Martin Ruhnke, Georg Philipp Tele-
mann: Thematisch-systematisches Verzeichnis seiner
Werke. Telemann- Werkverzeichnis: Instrumental-
werke, Kassel, 1984-92). Researchers will no
doubt consider the handwriting illustrations
invaluable, but the lack of illustrations of Mel-
chior Hoffmann's and Johann Balthasar Konig's
writing is curious, since both were closely asso-
ciated with Telemann during the early stages of
his career. Likewise, it would have been helpful to
include representative examples of Telemann's
own handwriting; at present, relatively little is
understood about the development of his musical
calligraphy over the course of his extraordinarily
long career.Jaenecke explains in the preface that
the manuscript copies have been dated partly on
the basis of paper studies (p. 12), but unfor-
tunately he neither describes nor illustrateswater-
marks in the catalogue.
Although the works in the collection cover a
wide chronological range (c.1705-67), most date
from the composer's Hamburg years (1721-67)
and particularly from after 1740. The history of
most of the manuscripts, from the time they were
owned by Telemann to their acquisition by the
Konigliche Bibliothek (the predecessor of the
StaatsbibliothekPreussischerKulturbesitz)in the
nineteenth century, is relatively straightforward.
In fact, to a great extent the catalogue may be con-
sidered a listing of what survives of Telemann's
Nachlass.As the only musician among the benefi-
ciaries named in Telemann's 1765 will, Georg
Michael inherited all of Telemann's autograph
manuscripts of vocal music. He also appears to
have received many manuscript copies of sacred
vocal works. The rest of Telemann's collection,
including instrumental and vocal works (except
for sacred cantatas) in manuscript and printed
collections, was sold by auction in 1769. Unfor-
tunately, the whereabouts of these works-and of
the auction catalogue-are unknown.
During his long tenure as Kantor in Riga
(1773-1828), Georg Michael relied heavily on the
works of his grandfather, extensively revising,
cutting, and altering numerous cantatas, ora-
torios and passions. And herein lies one of the
more daunting obstacles facing the researcher of
this repertory: Georg Michael frequently dis-
carded original parts when they were not needed,
or used leaves belonging to one work to make
additional performanceparts for another. Among
this discarded or recycled material are portions of
autograph manuscripts, some of which are quite
early (the verso side of part No. 10 in Mus. ms. 21
736/400, for example, appears to have been
copied in Leipzig c.1705). The result of Georg
Michael's activities is a jumble of unidentified
fragmentsthat, if carefully pieced together, might
yet reveal unknown or lost works. Jaenecke has
thoughtfully provided a list of these fragments at
the end of the catalogue (pp. 396-7). Following
Georg Michael's death in 1831, the music col-
lector Georg Poelchau discovered many of the
Telemann manuscripts in Riga and took them to
Berlin. When Poelchau died ten years later, his
extensive musical collection (also rich in manu-
scripts ofJ. S. Bach's music) was acquired by the
Konigliche Bibliothek.
The non-autograph portion of Telemann's
Nachlass, as owned by Georg Michael, can be at
least partly reconstructedwith the aid of the cata-
logue. Approximately 125 cantatas, seven Pas-
sions, five oratorios and assorted other vocal
works were copied by 'Hamburg Copyist A'
(Telemann's principal copyist from about 1740)
and several other Hamburg copyists before 1767.
As many of these manuscripts contain autograph
parts, titles, corrections and the like, we may infer
that they too belonged to Telemann. Jaenecke
lists 97 manuscript copies that contain Tele-
mann's handwriting (pp. 408-9) but fails to dis-
tinguish between relatively minor autograph
additions (corrections, titles, bass figures, and
performanceindications) and those that are much
more substantial or significant (sketches, com-
plete parts and even complete scores). Thus,
mixed in among the manuscript copies are over a
dozen autograph parts, two autograph sketches
(Mus. ms. 21 736/200 and Mus. ms. 21 736/350),
a set of autograph parts to a duet (Mus. ms. 21
782/2), an autograph overtureand alternativearia
for Handel's Almira (Mus. ms. 9050) and three
autograph insert arias apiece for Handel's and
Fortunato Chelleri's pasticcio Judith and Rein-
hard Keiser's Nebucadnezar(Mus. ms. 9057 and
Mus. ms. autgr. Keiser 6). Likewise, among the
Telemann autographs listed in the first section of
the catalogue are a sketch (N. Mus. ms. 497) and
at least one draft score (Mus. ms. autogr. G. P.
Telemann 136). The sketches, drafts and other
fragments would make a fascinating study in
themselves, especially since the study of Tele-
mann's compositional processes is an area of
enquiry that has been almost totally neglected.
Turning to the end of the catalogue, I found the
lists and indexes to be both well thought-out and
accurate. Besides those already mentioned, the
98
most helpful are the listing of 76 copyists (known
and unknown) and the separate indexes for the
autographs, occasional vocal works, works not
listed in Menke's thematic catalogue, cantatas for
which Telemann's authorship is uncertain, and
autographs and manuscript copies of cantatas
published during Telemann's lifetime. There are
also separate alphabetical indexes for the vocal
and instrumental works of Telemann and for the
works of Georg Michael.
Relatively few errors appear to have crept into
the catalogue. Among those I found, a few are
worth pointing out: the 'Grillen-Sinfonie' (Mus.
ms. autogr. G. P. Telemann 3) should be listed as
TWV 50: 1, not 50: 21; the 'Fanfare' included in
Mus. ms. autogr. G. P. Telemann 6, No. 6 (TWV
55: D 23) is TWV 50: 44; and the 'Sinfonia' in E
flat, listed as Mus. ms. autogr. G. P. Telemann 6,
No. 7, is TWV 50: 21. There are also a few errors
of omission. To the list of autographs (pp. 408-9)
should be added Mus. ms. 21 730/10 and 21 753/
20, containing autograph additions and correc-
tions. No instrumentation is given for the D major
concerto opening Keiser'sNebucadnezar (Mus. ms.
autogr. Keiser 6); although Telemann's author-
ship of this concerto is not certain, it should never-
theless have been listed in the alphabetical index
of his instrumental music. I suspect that the copy-
ist identified in several manuscript copies as
'Cron' (p. 391) is Caspar Daniel Krohn, a com-
position pupil of Telemann's in Hamburg.
The few minor shortcomings mentioned above
do not significantly compromise the usefulness of
this catalogue. It is an important contribution to
Telemann bibliography and should prove to be
an invaluable research tool for many years to
come.
STEVEN ZOHN
Rameauand Musical Thoughtin the Enlightenment.
By Thomas Christensen. pp. xviii + 327. 'Cam-
bridge Studies in Music Theory and Analysis'.
(Cambridge University Press, 1993, ?45. ISBN
0-521-42040-7.)
The recently renewed interest in the work of
Rameau has resulted in the publication of a series
of studies over the past decade that provide a new
basis for re-evaluationof his production. That his
writings have attractedthe attention of scholars in
fields as diverse as philosophy, mathematics,
science and literature, as well as music, emphas-
izes the complexity of expression found in them,
as it does the emerging view that his ideas must
ultimately be understood as a product of the intel-