Sechs späte Kirchenmusiken 61

For the first time, examples of church music from Telemann's late creative period, which arguably is marked above all by the great concert oratorios, have been edited and are presented in the “Telemann Complete Works”, volume 61. Included are six compositions from the years 1759 to 1762 which were written for Ascension Day, the 1st day of Easter, the 1st day of Whitsuntide and Michaelmas, supplemented by the ode "Die Begnadigung", which was performed in 1762 on the 19th Sunday after Trinity as church music after the sermon. In addition, Telemann's melody and the six-verse text were printed in the journal "Unterhaltungen" in 1766.

The compositions presented in the volume do not follow a uniform formal scheme; each demonstrates a special form. Representative and spaciously scored four-part dictum settings alternate with expressive accompagnato recitatives, sentimental arias and duets and sometimes several chorale stanzas. The instrumentation of important movements with trumpets can be attributed to festive occasions, which required a brilliant sound. All of the settings are marked by Telemann's typical and precise interpretation of the text.

Two of the texts were written by Daniel Schiebeler and two by Johann Joachim Eschenburg, a friend of Lessing's. It is highly probable that the editor can attribute another text to Schiebeler. However, the poet of the Whitsuntide piece "Komm, Geist des Herrn" who included three verses of the song paraphrase "Komm heiliger Geist" by Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock in his poem cannot yet be named.

Apart from the scores, this volume contains the complete texts, facsimiles from the musical sources, a detailed Foreword (Ger/Eng) and a Critical Commentary (Ger).