Six Sonatas for two Flutes or Violins Op.2 (TWV 40) Volume I (Playing Score)

Telemann Six Sonatas for two Flutes or Violins Op.2 (TWV 40) Volume I (Playing Score)

Within his prodigious output – the extent and significance of which cannot yet be fully ascertained – Georg Philipp Telemann (1681–1767) cultivated to a considerable degree the genre of chamber music without continuo.  To this genre belong pieces for flute or violin which are intended for one, two, or four instruments.

The “Six Sonatas without Bass” for two flutes or two violins, Op.2 (1727), presented here, exhibit a strict cyclic organization, in terms both of tonality and of form.  They are all in four movements and are based on the same formal pattern. In the slow movements, expansive baroque thematic material is intertwined with more charming galant features.  The fast movements are usually cast in an imitative, fugal style, or, with their capricious rhythms and delicate figuration, they approach suite-like models.  The cycle displays fascinating characteristics in its musical substance and development, its treatment of sonority, and in its compositional craftsmanship.

- Urtext of the Telemann Edition