Telemann - 'Burlesque de Quixotte' For Strings

Music can be looked at as belonging to one of two broad categories; absolute music or program music. Absolute music is music that has no apparent story attached to it, is not about anything, while program music has some sort of story or outside influence guiding it. Those two definitions are quite vague, but they can at least be taking-off points for a superficial categorization of music (if the listener needs one). Superficial for there are many instances of 'absolute' music that do have a story behind them, real or contrived. And program music also has a sense of  absoluteness to it in that while it may be possible to relate specific actions through sound (the bird calls in Beethoven's Sixth Symphony come to mind), music's strength is in evoking an atmosphere or feeling rather than specific actions.

Franz Liszt and the creation of the tone poem put program music 'on the map', but music written to tell a story had been written long before that. Many composers used flutes to imitate birds, drums and trumpets to imitate martial music, horns to imitate the hunt. Music like this was not common, but it did exist. French composers of the Baroque era especially wrote music with a 'program', at least in the sense that the pieces carried a title that helped express the music. The French orchestral suite was developed into a form that made use of descriptive titles for the individual pieces, and Georg Philipp Telemann helped to popularize the French orchestral suite in Baroque-era Germany.

Don Quixote by  Gustave Doré

Friend to Handel and Bach (he was godfather to C.P.E. Bach), Telemann was born four years earlier than either and outlived both.  One of the most prolific composers of his or any other generation (he composed some 3,000 pieces), he came from a family of mostly non-musical members, and except for a two-week stint of lessons with an organist had no musical instruction. He taught himself how to play many instruments, and composed sacred and secular music as well as music for the stage. He kept abreast of trends in the music of his time and was an important composer in the transition from the Baroque era to the Classical era.

Telemann's Suite For Orchestra 'Burlesque de Quixotte',by its very designation as a burlesque,  is meant to be a light-hearted tribute to the novel Don Quixote by the Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes. The book was itself looked upon (and was written to be) a humorous one as the translation from the full title shows: The Ingenious Low-Born Noble Don Quixote of La Mancha. Telemann's suite is written for strings and consists of an overture with six titled pieces in the form of Baroque dances:

Miguel Cervantes

Overture - Written in the French Overture style, the music begins with a slow section in dotted rhythms. After this, the tempo increases and the music becomes fugal. When the fugue is done, the slow tempo and dotted rhythms return and lead to the end of the overture.

Don Quixote Awakens -  Don Quixote's dream to become a chivalrous knight on a quest for adventure and romance is begun, with long notes and pauses

Don Quixote Attacks The Windmills - In his rag-tag armor, make-shift helmet and lance, Don Quixote's delusions of grandeur have caused him to see windmills as monsters and dragons to be slain. The music's rapid tempo and repeated notes represent his imagined foes.

Pining For The Princess Dulcinea - Of what use is a knight's courage if he has no princess to fall in love with?  Don Quixote imagines a peasant woman he has seen as his princess and names her Dulcinea, and longs to tell her how much he loves her. The strings play hushed sighs and the music stops and starts in sympathy with his feelings.

Sancho Panza - Don Quixote's rotund manservant Sancho is portrayed as he is jostled and mocked by villagers.

The Galloping Of Rosinante and Sancho's Galloping Donkey -  Don Quixote's horse Rosinante is heard galloping in a steady in three tempo. Sancho's stubborn lurching donkey is portrayed in music that pauses and dotted rhythms. Rosinante is heard once again to finish the scene.

The Sleep Of Don Quixote - Telemann's Don is put to sleep and has happy dreams of his conquests in jaunty music that ends gently.
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Telemann - Viola Concerto In G Major

The viola's usual role in the symphony orchestra is to fill the inner voices and add depth and tone color to the string section as its range is approximately between the violin and cello.  The instrument poses a problem to players as it would be too ungainly if it were built to scale with the other two members of the violin family; too big to play comfortably on the arm like a violin, too small to play between the knees as a cello.  So the viola is an instrument of compromise as it is built to be playable on the arm while supplying the middle range of notes. This is done with larger diameter strings and a body large enough to project its tone.

Viola technique is somewhat different than violin technique in that there is a larger span needed for the fingerboard and more pressure must be applied to stop strings on the fingerboard, and more pressure as well on the bow to make the string sound. The larger diameter and longer length of the strings also make the viola slightly slower to 'speak'. The viola is the only member of the violin family that does not have a standardized size, probably because of the problems in playing the instrument, especially for players with short arms or small hands.

J.S. Bach loved to play the instrument as did Mozart, and because of that it has been called a composer's instrument. No doubt being in the 'middle' of the harmony is what attracted composers to the viola, but besides a few notable exceptions the viola has not been used as a soloist in concertos. Berlioz's Harold In Italy is one of those exceptions, and that composition isn't so much a viola concerto as a symphony with viola obbligato.   One of the earliest examples of a viola concerto is by Telemann. His Viola Concerto In G Major was written probably between 1715-1720 and is still performed today. 

Instead of writing the concerto in the 3-movement fast-slow-fast form used by Vivaldi and other composers of the time, Telemann used the older 4-movement church sonata form of slow-fast-slow-fast. Telemann lived a long life and was one of the composers that created a bridge between the Baroque style and the newer style galant that led to the classical era of music by Haydn and Mozart.

I. Largo - This opening movement makes good use of the viola's mellow tone. The string orchestra plays a ritornello, a short tune repeated by the orchestra, as the viola plays between the repeats of the short tune. The ritornello is repeated a few times, the viola comments, and the movement ends.

II. Allegro - A melody is played by the strings, the viola has its say in this short movement that is also in ritornello form, a favorite of Baroque composers. Baroque composers were aware of what other composers in other countries were writing. Vivaldi was a great influence on German composers as can be heard in Vivaldi-like allegro.

III. Andante - The viola sings a slowly moving song in G minor as the strings gently accompany. 

IV. Presto - A movement of high energy as the strings start things off and the viola joins in. 

This concerto shows to good effect what ritornello form was capable of in the hands of a master. This viola concerto has been one of Telemann's most popular works, most likely because Telemann has managed to span the centuries by composing a piece that is Baroque in the best sense of the word while also writing with a lightness that appeals to the more modern listener.