Georg Philipp Telemann was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist, born on March 14, 1681, in Magdeburg, Brandenburg, Germany. He passed away on June 25, 1767, in Hamburg. Telemann is one of the most prolific composers in history, with a surviving oeuvre that is among the largest of any composer.

Telemann was considered by his contemporaries to be one of the leading German composers of the time and was compared favorably both to his friend Johann Sebastian Bach, who made Telemann the godfather and namesake of his son Carl Philipp Emanuel, and to George Frideric Handel, whom Telemann also knew personally. Despite opposition from his family, who forbade any musical activities, Telemann pursued his passion for music and became a composer against his family’s wishes.

After studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hildesheim, Telemann entered the University of Leipzig to study law, but he eventually settled on a career in music. He held important positions in Leipzig, Sorau (now Żary, Poland), Eisenach, and Frankfurt before settling in Hamburg in 1721, where he

Telemann’s personal life was often troubled; his first wife died less than two years after their marriage, and his second wife had extramarital affairs and accumulated a large gambling debt before leaving him. As part of his duties, he wrote a considerable amount of music for educating organists under his direction, including 48 chorale preludes and 20 small fugues to accompany his chorale harmonizations for 500 hymns.

His music incorporates French, Italian, and German national styles, and he was at times even influenced by Polish popular music. He remained at the forefront of all new musical tendencies, and his music stands as an important link between the late Baroque and early Classical styles. The Telemann Museum in Hamburg is dedicated to his life and work.

La Caccia (The Hunt) is taken from Telemann’s Concerto for Violin in F major. It depicts a scene that, in his lifetime, was a popular… subject for artists and composers. Hunting, whether of the deer, the fox or the wild boar was, throughout Europe, regarded as an activity both necessary ­­— ridding the country-side of annoying wild animals and acquiring game for food, and fashionable ­— an opportunity for the gentry to exhibit their horses, rich clothing and servants, and to indulge in danger, daring and disturbance through the fields and forests. This musical picture of a hunt starts at dawn (misty, peaceful, dew-laden) the sun gradually rises, a church-bell is heard and the birds start twittering. And then the hunt is up, a hunting-horn starts it off, and we hear the galloping horses, the speed, excitement and noise, the horn sounding from right and left, and then bringing the hunt — and the piece — to a close. Previous Published by Spartan Press Former catalogue number: SP720 Instrumentation This set contains: Full score plus the following parts: Part 1: in C (Flute) and/or in Bb (Clarinet/Soprano Saxophone) Part 2: in C (Flute/Oboe) and/or in Bb (Clarinet/Soprano Saxophone) Part 3: in Bb (Clarinet) and/or in Eb (Alto Saxophone) Part 4: in C (Bassoon) and/or in Bb (Bass Clarinet) and/or in Bb (Tenor Saxophone)