Telemann Goes East

In this programme Erik Bosgraaf, together with filoBarocco, searches for Polish traditional folk music through the eyes, or rather pen, of Georg Philipp Telemann. In the 18th century Telemann was a court composer in Sorau (now Zary, Poland) and wrote down all of the melodies he heard in the taverns. It is particularly notable that this gives us an idea of ​​what that music sounded like, because folk music was often not written down. The well-known ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax travelled around the world with a recording device in the middle of the last century to record dying living musical cultures of minorities before they disappeared due to the emerging globalisation and mass communication tools in his time.

So it is up to us to use our imagination, be inspired and bring this music to life in our own way. Erik Bosgraaf and filoBarocco do that as an ‘educated guess’ and, with great knowledge of European folk and baroque music, create their own version of what inspired Telemann three centuries ago...