Alina Ibragimova - Telemann: Fantasias for Solo Violin (2022) [Official Digital Download 24/192]

Telemann may have written his twelve fantasias for the amateur market, but he would surely have rejoiced to hear such superlative performances as these. Alina Ibragimova again demonstrates just what can be accomplished on the four strings of a solo violin.

‘You are come here fifty years too late.’

With these words C P E Bach greeted the English traveller, chronicler and music historian Charles Burney upon the latter’s arrival in Hamburg in October 1772. Observing first-hand the sorry state of musical activity in the city during his visit, Burney would soon come to agree. But what had he missed, fifty years before? What was this golden age of musical life in Hamburg, earlier in the century?

Had Burney been in Hamburg in the 1720s and ’30s, he would have witnessed a thriving and vibrant centre of musical life, with one person at its heart: Georg Philipp Telemann. In 1721 Telemann was appointed Kantor of the Johanneum Lateinschule and director musices of Hamburg’s five largest churches, with a specific mandate to revitalize music in the city. He immediately embarked on a series of compositional undertakings spanning both sacred and secular realms. As well as the two cantatas he wrote each week to meet his church commitments, Telemann began a series of public concerts with his newly founded Collegium Musicum, and in 1722 was appointed director of the Gänsemarkt Opera, for whom he also composed several new works. The musical life of the city was rapidly invigorated by the new stream of repertoire flowing from Telemann’s pen, and general recognition of his talent quickly followed. Indeed, just a year later, when the city officials of Leipzig tried to poach Telemann for the Thomaskantor post, eventually offered to Johann Sebastian Bach, Hamburg raised his stipend in order to retain their man.

By the 1730s Telemann had firmly established his position as a musician of widespread renown, esteemed by his contemporaries as among the great composers of history. Johann Mattheson summed up the general sentiment in 1740: ‘People sing the praises of Lully; they speak highly of Corelli; [but] only Telemann is above all praise.’ Telemann’s fame during his lifetime no doubt owes much to his compositions for the public musical institutions of Hamburg—churches, the opera house and the like. Yet there is a different area of his output, sometimes forgotten, which might go further in explaining how Telemann was able to invigorate musical activity in the city. For alongside his expansive compositional output for the public arena, he was similarly prolific in his work for domestic settings. That is, while producing vast quantities of music to be played and sung by professional musicians in church services, public concerts and at the opera, he was also writing numerous works to be performed by amateur musicians in the home, and perhaps it was this latter area of his output—this act of reaching into people’s homes and their private lives—that really ensconced him in the city’s musical scene.

Like many composers of his period, Telemann established and ran a Selbstverlag—a ‘self-publishing house’, whose primary purpose was to publish and sell his own music. While he certainly published some compositions for professionals this way, he made much more money by composing and selling popular works for the amateur market, and it was for this demographic that Telemann composed his four sets of solo fantasias—for flute, keyboard, violin and viola da gamba—between 1732 and 1736. As such, these fantasias are designed as much for the pleasure of playing as for the pleasure of listening. Without being too complex technically or sonically, they need to sustain the interest of both performer and audience. The fantasia genre offered Telemann an ideal vehicle for his compositions for amateurs. With its relatively loose structural demands and emphasis on variety, it provided scope for a series of short, individual movements whose character, thematic make-up and internal structure could be taken in any number of different directions. Indeed, Telemann advertised the heterogeneity of the set recorded here in the 1735 catalogue for his Selbstverlag, writing that it constituted ‘12 fantasias for the violin without bass, of which 6 include fugues and 6 are Galanterien’—in other words, six harking back affectionately to the old, strict style of composition, and the other half espousing the new, galant aesthetic that was rapidly gaining popularity during the period. These fundamental attributes of variety and immediate appeal are borne out across the set, with each individual fantasia typically consisting of three or four short, contrasting movements. Although the fantasias come, as did so many instrumental sets of the eighteenth century, in a ‘packet of twelve’, it is important to remember that amateur performers of the period would rarely have played the complete set as a cycle; rather, they would have dipped into it, one fantasia at a time.

Fantasia No 1 in B flat major opens with a highly improvisatory Largo movement whose spontaneous nature calls to mind Thomas Morley’s (much earlier) description of the fantasia genre as one in which ‘the composer is tide to nothing but that he may adde, deminish, and alter at his pleasure … as bindings with discordes, quicke motions, slow motions, proportions, and what you list’. This functions largely as a prelude to the following movement’s Allegro fugue, in which Telemann exploits the violinist’s capacity to play more than one string at a time, conjuring up the impression of multiple players performing simultaneously. The Grave third movement turns to the relative key of G minor, and is laced throughout with paired notes—an eighteenth-century depiction of sorrowful sighing—before the previous fugue is repeated.

With Fantasia No 2 in G major we start to see the scope for variety that the form provides the composer. Although this fantasia in some ways replicates the structure of the previous one, with a Largo followed by an Allegro, the musical content is fundamentally different. Unlike the opening of No 1, this first movement advances in fits and starts, with frequent pauses and repetition of material. The hesitations of the Largo are immediately offset by the following gigue-fugue, characterized by sprightly rhythmic configurations and athletic melodic leaps, before a brief final Allegro concludes the work.

Fantasia No 3 presents our first turn to the minor mode, and specifically to F minor, which in the eighteenth century was closely associated with qualities of the lament. Indeed, in the initial Adagio Telemann frequently demands of the violinist that they play three strings at once, generating anguished, painful harmonies. The Presto fugue that follows is masterful in its calculation, with the defining three notes that begin its theme returning throughout the movement in all sorts of rhythmic and melodic permutations. A brief, barely notated Grave then offers room for improvisation, before a short Vivace closes the fantasia resolutely in the home key.

Further change comes with Fantasia No 4, the first of the more modern ‘Galanterien’ fantasias that Telemann advertised. Here he dispenses with the slow first movement, diving straight in with an energetic Vivace whose bright D major immediately dispels the previous fantasia’s despair. The subsequent Grave is among the stranger movements of the entire set: it begins with a declamatory ‘French overture’ gesture, but the energy rapidly dissipates and the violinist is left slithering up a chromatic scale. In the final Allegro a fully fledged gigue provides a spirited conclusion to the work.

With Fantasia No 5 in A major, Telemann opts for yet another different structural set-up. The opening Allegro–Presto movement alternates between harmonic figuration and a strict fugue. The following Andante requires the violinist to play two (or sometimes three) strings throughout, with a walking bass offering a flowing counterpoint to the more stilted upper melody. Again, this fantasia shows Telemann moving comfortably between the old and new styles of composition, with the final Allegro shifting the work emphatically towards the newer, simpler galant style that was ascending in popularity during the period; here the composer eschews contrapuntal calculation and complex chords for tuneful figurations over simpler harmonies.

Fantasia No 6 in E minor exhibits more of a reliance on Baroque dance types than most of the other fantasias in the set (and in this regard is akin to J S Bach’s suites for solo violin, although it is unlikely that Telemann knew them). It begins with a stately sarabande-like Grave, which goes beyond the straightforward introductory function that most of the first movements in this set perform, to provide a weighty movement in its own right. Immediately after the ensuing concise Presto fugue, a lilting Siciliana offers a new, pastoral tone. The final Allegro movement is a bourrée in all but name, ending the work with robust rhythmic vigour.

Fantasia No 7 presents something of a conceptual turning point, halfway through the set. Although we have not yet heard the last of the fugues and other old-style musical features, the later fantasias certainly lean more towards the new, galant idioms than those earlier in the set. The opening Dolce establishes the tone for this newer stylistic language, with its ornate, free-flowing figurations conjuring a far gentler atmosphere than the previous counterpoint could create. The Allegro that follows has a rhythmic jauntiness to it, with off-beat accents providing an element of surprise and repeatedly propelling the melody forwards. A poignant Largo in the relative minor is immediately succeeded by a Presto that bears at least the rhythmic characteristics of the popular gavotte—a dance that was still current in Telemann’s day.

Fantasia No 8 also begins with a contemplative air, its Piacevolmente first movement perhaps evoking a solitary piper in a field (a trope that Telemann explored in other works). The following Spirituoso is among the more technically demanding movements of the set, and would surely have challenged its early performers. Its vivacious tone belies careful compositional craft, the opening phrase of the second half of the movement constituting the melodic inversion of the opening phrase of the first half. A short, tumbling final Allegro rounds off the work.

Fantasia No 9 likewise opens in an understated fashion, with another Siciliana movement, albeit now in the minor mode and with none of the harmonic jolts and surprises that characterize earlier first movements. The Vivace that follows makes a feature of wide melodic leaps, demanding considerable string-crossing agility from the soloist, until the closing Allegro gigue, with its uninterrupted melody, provides a relentless finale.

Fantasia No 10 abruptly pulls us back towards the old-style contrapuntal world, opening with a Presto fugue. Yet this is fairly short-lived: a Largo movement, which in many ways resembles the opening Largo of the first fantasia in the set, returns us to the newer style. The ponderous nature of the successive melodic utterances here gives the movement something of a monologue feel. Another Allegro gigue concludes this fantasia, much jauntier than the last, with some rapid ascending runs adding further life and vigour.

The Un poco vivace that begins Fantasia No 11 stands out from the other movements on account of its irregular phrase lengths, which repeatedly deny the melody an opportunity to rest. By contrast, the Soave movement that follows offers regularity and repose, notwithstanding its slightly surprising key. Like the first movement, the Allegro finale demonstrates some rather strange phrase structures, whereby the initial impulse of each phrase is followed by an inconclusive trailing-off—Telemann showing compositional ingenuity and originality here.

Although it is does not exceed any of the others in length, Fantasia No 12 provides a sense of culmination. Telemann once more evokes the ‘French overture’ style for the Moderato first movement, immediately establishing a sense of gravity to which the A minor tonality contributes further. A similarly substantial Vivace follows, its somewhat vaster scope allowing traversal over a wider range of keys than most of the preceding movements of the set. An expanded register (it features the highest notes of the whole set of fantasias) intensifies the sense of denouement. Full three- and four-voice chords in the Presto round out the movement—and the set—in the radiant glow of A major.

Tracklist:
01. Telemann: Fantasia No. 1 for Solo Violin in B-Flat Major, TWV 40:14: I. Largo
02. Telemann: Fantasia No. 1 for Solo Violin in B-Flat Major, TWV 40:14: II. Allegro
03. Telemann: Fantasia No. 1 for Solo Violin in B-Flat Major, TWV 40:14: III. Grave –
04. Telemann: Fantasia No. 1 for Solo Violin in B-Flat Major, TWV 40:14: IV. Si replica l'allegro
05. Telemann: Fantasia No. 2 for Solo Violin in G Major, TWV 40:15: I. Largo
06. Telemann: Fantasia No. 2 for Solo Violin in G Major, TWV 40:15: II. Allegro
07. Telemann: Fantasia No. 2 for Solo Violin in G Major, TWV 40:15: III. Allegro
08. Telemann: Fantasia No. 3 for Solo Violin in F Minor, TWV 40:16: I. Adagio
09. Telemann: Fantasia No. 3 for Solo Violin in F Minor, TWV 40:16: II. Presto
10. Telemann: Fantasia No. 3 for Solo Violin in F Minor, TWV 40:16: III. Grave – Vivace
11. Telemann: Fantasia No. 4 for Solo Violin in D Major, TWV 40:17: I. Vivace
12. Telemann: Fantasia No. 4 for Solo Violin in D Major, TWV 40:17: II. Grave
13. Telemann: Fantasia No. 4 for Solo Violin in D Major, TWV 40:17: III. Allegro
14. Telemann: Fantasia No. 5 for Solo Violin in A Major, TWV 40:18: I. Allegro – Presto –
15. Telemann: Fantasia No. 5 for Solo Violin in A Major, TWV 40:18: II. Allegro – Presto
16. Telemann: Fantasia No. 5 for Solo Violin in A Major, TWV 40:18: III. Andante
17. Telemann: Fantasia No. 5 for Solo Violin in A Major, TWV 40:18: IV. Allegro
18. Telemann: Fantasia No. 6 for Solo Violin in E Minor, TWV 40:19: I. Grave
19. Telemann: Fantasia No. 6 for Solo Violin in E Minor, TWV 40:19: II. Presto
20. Telemann: Fantasia No. 6 for Solo Violin in E Minor, TWV 40:19: III. Siciliana
21. Telemann: Fantasia No. 6 for Solo Violin in E Minor, TWV 40:19: IV. Allegro
22. Telemann: Fantasia No. 7 for Solo Violin in E-Flat Major, TWV 40:20: I. Dolce
23. Telemann: Fantasia No. 7 for Solo Violin in E-Flat Major, TWV 40:20: II. Allegro
24. Telemann: Fantasia No. 7 for Solo Violin in E-Flat Major, TWV 40:20: III. Largo
25. Telemann: Fantasia No. 7 for Solo Violin in E-Flat Major, TWV 40:20: IV. Presto
26. Telemann: Fantasia No. 8 for Solo Violin in E Major, TWV 40:21: I. Piacevolmente
27. Telemann: Fantasia No. 8 for Solo Violin in E Major, TWV 40:21: II. Spirituoso
28. Telemann: Fantasia No. 8 for Solo Violin in E Major, TWV 40:21: III. Allegro
29. Telemann: Fantasia No. 9 for Solo Violin in B Minor, TWV 40:22: I. Siciliana
30. Telemann: Fantasia No. 9 for Solo Violin in B Minor, TWV 40:22: II. Vivace
31. Telemann: Fantasia No. 9 for Solo Violin in B Minor, TWV 40:22: III. Allegro
32. Telemann: Fantasia No. 10 for Solo Violin in D Major, TWV 40:23: I. Presto
33. Telemann: Fantasia No. 10 for Solo Violin in D Major, TWV 40:23: II. Largo
34. Telemann: Fantasia No. 10 for Solo Violin in D Major, TWV 40:23: III. Allegro
35. Telemann: Fantasia No. 11 for Solo Violin in F Major, TWV 40:24: I. Un poco vivace
36. Telemann: Fantasia No. 11 for Solo Violin in F Major, TWV 40:24: II. Soave –
37. Telemann: Fantasia No. 11 for Solo Violin in F Major, TWV 40:24: III. Un poco vivace da capo
38. Telemann: Fantasia No. 11 for Solo Violin in F Major, TWV 40:24: IV. Allegro
39. Telemann: Fantasia No. 12 for Solo Violin in A Minor, TWV 40:25: I. Moderato
40. Telemann: Fantasia No. 12 for Solo Violin in A Minor, TWV 40:25: II. Vivace
41. Telemann: Fantasia No. 12 for Solo Violin in A Minor, TWV 40:25: III. Presto


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