Folk Baroque

Telemann was renowned for his openness to musical infl uences from across Europe. During his travels he encountered Polish and Hanna folk traditi ons that left a lasti ng impression on him. In his autobiographical writi ngs, he vividly describes the impact of this music: its rhythmic vitality, its improvisatory spirit, and its powerful melodic expression. These qualiti es fascinated him and found their way, someti mes subtly, someti mes quite directly, into his owncompositi ons. Yet reconstructi ng the sound world of the eighteenth century presents a unique challenge. Unlike music from the twenti eth or twenty-fi rst centuries, there are no recordings to tell us exactly how this repertoire once sounded. Historically informed performance with this repertoire therefore requires re-compositi on.