Composed 1735; 6 minutes

Trained as a lawyer, Telemann nevertheless forged a new path as a professional composer and achieved wide recognition in his own lifetime. In Hamburg, where he worked from 1721 until his death in 1767, Telemann combined a prestigious post as Kantor of the Johanneum Lateinschule with responsibility for music in the city’s five principal churches. A pioneer of music publishing, he built a subscriber network that stretched across Europe and embraced both professionals and skilled amateurs.

It was likely this cultivated amateur market that Telemann addressed in 1735 with his Hamburg publication of 12 Fantasias without a bass, for solo violin or flute. He also wrote comparable collections for solo flute, keyboard, and viola da gamba in the early 1730s. Six of the 1735 violin Fantasias glance backward toward a more contrapuntal, learned style; the other six look forward to the increasingly fashionable Italianate idiom associated with Corelli and Vivaldi, in both cases leaving some latitude for interpretation of dynamics, phrasing, and ornamentation to the skill of the performer. The Eighth Fantasia begins with an elegant movement with double-stopping that creates the illusion of two violins in conversation. A longer, technically demanding Spirituoso follows, animated and forward-driving. A brief concluding Allegro juxtaposes the galant style with the rustic.