Pastorelle en Musique

Pastorelle en musique is probably Telemann’s first opera-play. It uses French and German languages in its libretto and is based on Molière, essentially resulting in a wedding serenade in a pastoral environment. It is scored for five vocal soloists and chorus. The aria Kleine Vögel, schweiget still evolves with anxious repetitive figures in strings (not dissimilar to Vivaldi’s) and leads to a heartfelt tenor line. The duet Wir sind vernügt offers a dramatic high point for the entire opera, through more intense phrases and dense textures. Re-discovered in 2001, the score had languished for two centuries in Berlin until traveling to Kiev along with other manuscripts captured by the Soviet army in 1945.

Telemann composed four concerti for four violins, all in major idiomatic keys for the instrument (G, D, C, and A). These works have no continuo accompaniment and can be classified as chamber music. Each concerto has four movements and follows the typical Baroque chamber music form of slow-fast-flow-fast. Unlike in many other Baroque concerti, the music here focuses much more on expressive value rather than technical display, which perhaps allowed these works to be played by advanced amateurs. Each violin part has an equal role within the concerti, rather than being a dominated by a single soloist.

(c) Jason Stell and Jessica Embach Jankauskas