Georg Philipp Telemann

Georg Philipp Telemann was a composer during the Baroque era who composed both secular and sacred music. Telemann is undoubtedly most famous for being the most prolific composer of all time with over 3000 compositions. In addition, Telemann loved to play a variety of instruments:

I was driven by a strong fire of enthusiasm to acquaint myself with other instruments besides keyboard, violin and flute. Now I also turned to learning how to play the oboe, transverse flute, chalameau/chalumeau…viola da gamba and even the contrabass and the bass trombone.

From a young age, Telemann began composing operas and sacred music. However, he felt that cantatas were his specialty as many people complimented the composition of his cantatas as being his “special forte.” Over the years, Telemann wrote over 1000 sacred cantatas which were highly praised.