Georg Philipp Telemann by Georg Lichtensteger

''Hamburger Admiralitätsmusik'' (''Hamburg Admiralty Music'') TWV 24:1 is a secular oratorio for soloists, choir and orchestra composed by Georg Philipp Telemann to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Hamburg's admiralty. It was first performed on April 6, 1723, along with Telemann's ''Wassermusik ( Hamburger Ebb' und Fluth)'' at a banquet for the city's merchants, sea captains, and councillors that lasted until dawn. The work is on a nautical theme and set to verses by Michael Richey, a professor at the Johanneum school in Hamburg where Telemann also taught.

Structure

Overture Overture (from French ''ouverture'', "opening") in music was originally the instrumental introduction to a ballet, opera, or oratorio in the 17th century. During the early Romantic era, composers such as Beethoven and Mendelssohn composed overt ...

in D major

Scoring

The ''Hamburger Admiralitätsmusik'' was composed for: 6 soloists SATBBB, 2

piccolo The piccolo ( ; Italian for 'small') is a half-size flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" the modern piccolo has similar fingerings as the standard transverse flute, but the so ...

recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

, 2 flutes, 2 oboes,

oboe d'amore The oboe d'amore (; Italian for "oboe of love"), less commonly , is a double reed woodwind musical instrument in the oboe family. Slightly larger than the oboe, it has a less assertive and a more tranquil and serene tone, and is considered the me ...

, 2

bassoon The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuo ...

s, 3 trumpets, 3 horns,

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

s, 2 violins, viola, cellos and

basso continuo Basso continuo parts, almost universal in the Baroque era (1600–1750), provided the harmonic structure of the music by supplying a bassline and a chord progression. The phrase is often shortened to continuo, and the instrumentalists playing th ...

.Telemann's secular oratorios
Robert Poliquin, Université du Québec (translated from the original French) Roles: Hammonia (S), Themis (A), Mercurius (T), Neptunus (B), Mars (B), Albis (B)

Recording

*Telemann: ''Hamburger Admiralitätsmusik; Overture in C'' (Mieke van der Sluis (soprano), Graham Pushee, Rufus Müller (tenor),

Klaus Mertens Klaus Mertens (born 25 March 1949, in Kleve) is a German bass and bass-baritone singer who is known especially for his interpretation of the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach for bass voice. Career Klaus Mertens took singing lessons ...

, David Thomas,

Michael Schopper Michael Schopper (born 28 May 1942) is a German bass-baritone in opera and concert, and an academic teacher. Michael Schopper was educated with the Regensburger Domspatzen and studied on a scholarship of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volke ...

(bass); Alsfelder Vokalensemble, Bremen Baroque Orchestra; conductor:

Wolfgang Helbich Wolfgang Helbich (8 April 1943 – 8 April 2013) was a German church musician, a choral conductor and academic. He was the founder of the Alsfelder Vokalensemble and served as their conductor for decades, a group that toured internationally and re ...

). cpo 999 373-2.

References

*Nicholas Anderson
Review of the CPO recording of ''Hamburger Admiralitätsmusik''
''

BBC Music Magazine ''BBC Music Magazine'' is a British monthly magazine that focuses primarily on classical music. History The first issue appeared in September 1992. BBC Worldwide, the commercial subsidiary of the BBC was the original owner and publisher toget ...

''. *Stephen Rose
Program Notes

Academy of Ancient Music The Academy of Ancient Music (AAM) is a British period-instrument orchestra based in Cambridge, England. Founded by harpsichordist Christopher Hogwood in 1973, it was named after an 18th-century organisation of the same name (originally the A ...

, April 28, 2007 {{DEFAULTSORT:Admiralitatsmusik Compositions by Georg Philipp Telemann Music in Hamburg