Editing Georg Philipp Telemann (section)

==Legacy and influence==
Telemann was one of the most prolific major composers of all time:<ref>[http://www.classicfm.com/composers/telemann/ Profile on '' Classic FM'' website]</ref> his all-encompassing oeuvre comprises more than 3,000 compositions, half of which have been lost, and most of which have not been performed since the 18th century. From 1708 to 1750, Telemann composed 1,043 sacred cantatas and 600 overture-suites, and types of concertos for combinations of instruments that no other composer of the time employed.<ref name="baroquemusic.org"/> The first accurate estimate of the number of his works was provided by musicologists only during the 1980s and 1990s, when extensive thematic catalogues were published. During his lifetime and the latter half of the 18th century, Telemann was very highly regarded by colleagues and critics alike. Numerous theorists ([[Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg|Marpurg]], [[Johann Mattheson|Mattheson]], [[Johann Joachim Quantz|Quantz]], and [[Johann Adolph Scheibe|Scheibe]], among others) cited his works as models, and major composers such as J.S. Bach and Handel bought and studied his published works. He was immensely popular not only in Germany but also in the rest of Europe: orders for editions of Telemann's music came from [[France]], [[Italy]], the [[Netherlands]], [[Belgium]], [[Scandinavia]]n countries, [[Switzerland]], and [[Spain]]. It was only in the early 19th century that his popularity came to a sudden halt. Most lexicographers started dismissing him as a "[[Polygraph (author)|polygraph]]" who composed too many works, a ''Vielschreiber'' for whom quantity came before quality. Such views were influenced by an account of Telemann's music by [[Christoph Daniel Ebeling]], a late-18th-century critic who in fact praised Telemann's music and made only passing critical remarks of his productivity. After the Bach revival, Telemann's works were judged as inferior to Bach's and lacking in deep religious feeling.<ref name="Hirschmann" /><ref name="groveonline">{{Cite Grove |last=Zohn |first=Steven |title=Georg Philipp Telemann}}</ref> For example, by 1911, the ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition|Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' lacked an article about Telemann, and in one of its few mentions of him referred to "the vastly inferior work of lesser composers such as Telemann" in comparison to Handel and Bach.<ref>{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle=Song |volume=25 |page=408 |first=Hans |last=Gadow}}</ref>

Particularly striking examples of such judgements were produced by noted Bach biographers [[Philipp Spitta]] and [[Albert Schweitzer]], who criticized Telemann's cantatas and then praised works they thought were composed by Bach, but which were composed by Telemann.<ref name="groveonline"/> The last performance of a substantial work by Telemann (''[[Der Tod Jesu]]'') occurred in 1832, and it was not until the 20th century that his music started being performed again. The revival of interest in Telemann began in the first decades of the 20th century and culminated in the Bärenreiter critical edition of the 1950s. Today each of Telemann's works is usually given a [[TWV]] number, which stands for ''Telemann-Werke-Verzeichnis'' (Telemann Works Catalogue).

Telemann's music was one of the driving forces behind the late Baroque and the early Classical styles. Starting in the 1710s he became one of the creators and foremost exponents of the so-called German mixed style, an amalgam of German, French, Italian and Polish styles.<ref name="Bergmann" /> Over the years, his music gradually changed and started incorporating more and more elements of the [[Galant music|galant musical style]], but he never completely adopted the ideals of the nascent Classical era: Telemann's style remained contrapuntally and harmonically complex, and already in 1751 he dismissed much contemporary music as too simplistic. Composers he influenced musically included pupils of J.S. Bach in Leipzig, such as [[Wilhelm Friedemann Bach]], [[Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach]] and [[Johann Friedrich Agricola]], as well as those composers who performed under his direction in Leipzig ([[Christoph Graupner]], [[Johann David Heinichen]] and [[Johann Georg Pisendel]]), composers of the Berlin ''lieder'' school, and finally, his numerous pupils, none of whom, however, became major composers.

Equally significant for the history of music were Telemann's publishing activities. By pursuing exclusive publication rights for his works, he set one of the most important early precedents for regarding music as the intellectual property of the composer. The same attitude informed his public concerts, where Telemann frequently performed music originally composed for ceremonies attended only by a select few members of the upper class.<ref name="Hirschmann" />