12 Fantasias for Bassoon - Georg Philipp Telemann (arr. Andrew Burn)

This purchase allows you to download 1 copy of the edition for your own personal use. Sharing of the digital files with others, or the fotocopying of the printed music is strictly prohibited.

PDF file - A4 format

This edition is based on a copy of an early printed source, most likely
engraved by Georg Philipp Telemann himself in Hamburg around 1732–33,
and preserved today in the Bibliothèque of the Conservatoire Royal de
Bruxelles (T5823W). The present arrangement seeks to reimagine the twelve
fantasias as a coherent cycle for the bassoon, maintaining a wide tonal
spectrum without duplication of keys, though not following the original
ascending scheme from A major to G minor. While the works have long been
understood as belonging to the flute—evidenced in particular by the lowest
pitch of D, corresponding to the instrument’s range—their melodic and
harmonic construction often implies a flexibility of realization. In adapting
them for the bassoon, small adjustments have been made in places where the
original texture privileges the third of a chord over a more structurally
grounded bass note, in order to better suit the instrument’s role and
capabilities. These decisions are informed by an understanding of 18thcentury
performance practice, in which the written text frequently
represents a point of departure rather than a fixed prescription. The resulting
versions are conceived with historical bassoons in mind and have been tested
in performance.

Andrew Burn