Georg Philipp Telemann (March 14th 1681 – June 25th 1767) was the archetypal eighteenth century polymath—linguist, diplomat*, businessman and publisher, as well as one of the foremost composers of his age. He died prosperous and famous (his income at Hamburg was about three times what Johann Sebastian Bach earned at Leipzig, and he made a substantial profit on his publications)—and, remarkably for a man of such overt ambition—extraordinarily popular—a happy, humorous man, loved and universally respected by his contemporaries.

Utterly determined to make a career from music despite the opposition of his parents, he was sent to Leipzig University (stopping off on the way to visit Handel) where he studied law, science and languages. While a student he founded the Collegium Musicum subsequently directed by J.S.Bach. He promoted concerts, and threw himself into performing and composition, writing for and becoming director of the Leipzig Opera in 1703 and organist at the Neue Kirche in 1704. Thereafter he held a series of important musical posts (Zorau, Eisenach, Frankfurt, Bayreuth) and travelled widely. He left traces of himself all over Europe—autograph copies of his music fill libraries throughout Germany and his journals found their way across the whole of the western world. (Handel subscribed from London). He assimilated the musical styles of France, Italy and Poland (particularly folk music), combining and adapting them effortlessly in his own compostions.

In 1721 he accepted the prestigious post of Kantor of the Hamburg Johanneum. It included teaching responsibilities and the directorship of Hamburg's five principal churches, and unlimited opprotunites to compose and perform. Given a free reign over the musical life of Hamburg he began by increasing the number of public concerts in churches, the Drill-Hall and at the 'Lower Tree-House' tavern, subscription concerts at which a wide variety of sacred and secular music was performed. He became music director of the Hamburg Opera, and published Der getreue Musikmeister ("The Faithful Music Master") from 1728.Intended as a sort of music lesson by post the periodical appeared every two weeks in the form of a four-page "Lesson". It consisted entirely of printed music—and rather like Victorian serialised novels, if you liked the first two movements of a sonata you would have to buy the following edition to find out what happened next. Telemann retained his post in Hamburg until his death in 1767, although througout his tenure he managed to travel widely despite his hectic (self-imposed) schedule. He was succeeded in the position by his Godson Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.

His output was startling in its range and sheer volume—church cantatas, (numbering at least 1043)and settings of the Passion for each year that he was in Hamburg, (46 in all) occasional pieces,opera, oratorio, orchestral music and a vast quantity of chamber music, much of which he published himself. He had a lifelong friendship with Handel; they corresponded and in 1750 Handel went to the trouble of sending him from London "a crate of flowers, which experts assure me are very choice and of admirable rarity". * an eighteenth century euphemism for a spy