The title of the original print of Georg Philipp Telemann's ''Sonates sans basse'' for two

traverso The Western concert flute is a family of transverse (side-blown) woodwind instruments made of metal or wood. It is the most common variant of the flute. A musician who plays the flute is called a flautist (in British English), flutist (in Ameri ...

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

s, or

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 ...

s (

TWV The Telemann-Werke-Verzeichnis (Telemann Works Catalogue), abbreviated TWV, is the numbering system identifying compositions by Georg Philipp Telemann, published by musicologist Martin Ruhnke. The prefix TWV is generally followed by a Music genre, ...

40:101–106), first published in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

in 1727, reads: "Sonates sans basse à deux Flutes traverses, ou à deux Violons, ou à deux Flutes à bec." The collection was reprinted in Amsterdam ( Le Cène, 1729), Paris (Le Clerc, 1736–37), and London (

Walsh Walsh may refer to: People and fictional characters * Walsh (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname Places * Fort Walsh, one of the first posts of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police * Walsh, Ontario, Norfolk ...

, 1746).

Structure

The six

sonatas Sonata (; Italian: , pl. ''sonate''; from Latin and Italian: ''sonare'' rchaic Italian; replaced in the modern language by ''suonare'' "to sound"), in music, literally means a piece ''played'' as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian ''canta ...

consist of four movements each, and are catalogued in the following tonalities:Manuscript: 1740-1760 “6. Duetto.”, Badische Landesbibliothek, Musikabteilung (D-KA) Mus. Hs. 274 – #

G major G major (or the key of G) is a major scale based on G, with the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative minor is E minor and its parallel minor is G minor. The G major scale is: Notable compositi ...

# D major #

A major A major (or the key of A) is a major scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has three sharps. Its relative minor is F-sharp minor and its parallel minor is A minor. The key of A major is the only k ...

# E minor #

B minor B minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative major is D major and its parallel major is B major. The B natural minor scale is: : Changes neede ...

E major E major (or the key of E) is a major scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has four sharps. Its relative minor is C-sharp minor and its parallel minor is E minor. Its enharmonic equivalent, ...

According to Steven D. Zohn,

The six duets all follow the same four-movement scheme in which a slow movement in variable style leads to a fugue, a slow movement in the ''Affettuoso'' mode, and a light finale that is usually dance based. Telemann goes to great lengths to ensure the equality of the two parts: neither is restricted to providing accompaniment to the other for more than a few measures at a time, and even sequential figuration tends to be divided between the parts though frequent voice exchange. Canonic writing, useful for involving both parts equally in the presentation of thematic material, is employed in many movements but never overused <…>.

Reception

In 2008, Steven D. Zohn wrote,

Extraordinarily effective on a variety of instruments, these works are now undoubtedly the most widely played instrumental duets from the eighteenth century <...and are...> among the composer’s best-known music during his lifetime.

References

External links

* Compositions by Georg Philipp Telemann {{music-publication-stub