1992 Articles

Martin Ruhnke, ed. Georg Philipp Telemann: Thematisch-Systematisches Verzeichnis seiner Werke:
Telemann-Werkverzeichnis: Instrumental Werke 2.

Zohn, Steven

This volume, the second of the Telemann-Werkverzeichnis (TWV) and a supplement to Barenreiter's selected critical edition of Telemann's works, completes the catalog of the chamber music. Thus for the first time an overview of the composer's entire output is possible (although the third
and final volume of the TWV; covering the orchestral works, will include some works omitted from thematic catalogs presently available). As Martin Ruhnke points out in the preface, one of the more popular claims about Telemann's compositional facility-that he composed more than Bach and Handel together-can now be confirmed (pp. vii-viii). In fact, the number of Telemann's works (3,617 by Ruhnke's count) is nearly double that of Bach's and Handel's combined output. This revelation may do little to diminish Telemann's reputation as a polygraph or (to use the more colorful German term) Vielschreiber, but a more or less complete catalogue raisonne should intensify the ongoing process of reassessing his music.