Hamburg�s Ebb and Flow

This brief invocation flows directly into a more substantial work, the Overture to “Hamburg’s Ebb and Flow” by Georg Philip Telemann (1681-1767). After moving around the same places and with similar frequency as J. S. Bach, Telemann accepted a post in Hamburg in 1721. He would remain there as musical director of the city’s major churches for the next 45 years. He completed a programmatic orchestral suite in 1723 to celebrate the port at Hamburg. The suite contains numerous movements given evocative, classically-inspired titles (“Neptune in Love,” “Triton’s Frolic,” “Thetis Awakening,” etc.). Tonight we will hear the first movement French Overture, marked by stately outer sections and an energetic fugal middle that presages the rising tides of subsequent movements.

(c) Jason Stell