Paris quartets

The Paris quartets is a collective designation for two sets of chamber-music compositions, each consisting of six works for flute, violin, viola da gamba (or cello), and continuo, by Georg Philipp Telemann, first published in 1730 and 1737, respectively. Telemann called his two collections Quadri and Nouveaux Quatuors. The collective designation "Paris quartets" was only first bestowed upon them in the second half of the twentieth century by the editors of the Telemann Musikalische Werke, because of their association with Telemann's celebrity visit to Paris in 1737–38 (Zohn 2008, 600n37). They bear the numbers 43:D1, 43:D3, 43:e1, 43:e4, 43:G1, 43:G4, 43:g1, 43:A1, 43:A3, 43:a2, 43:h1, 43:h2 in the TWV (catalog of Telemann's works).

At Michaelmas (29 September) 1737, Telemann finally left Hamburg for a long-delayed journey to Paris, where he had been invited at least seven years earlier by four prominent French musicians: flautist Michel Blavet, violinist Jean-Pierre Guignon, gambist Jean-Baptiste Forqueray, and a cellist/harpsichordist called Prince Édouard, whose precise identity is not known (Sadie 1978–79, 41; Telemann 1740, 366–67; Zohn 2008, 453). By 1730 Telemann's fame had spread across Europe, thanks in large part to dissemination of his music in printed form, which had been the main source of appreciation by his French hosts. It was in preparation for this visit (and for these four musicians) that Telemann composed the first set of six Paris quartets, which he published in Hamburg under the (Italian) title Quadri a violino, flauto traversiere, viola da gamba o violoncello, e fondamento: ripartiti in 2. concerti, 2. balletti, 2. suonate in 1730. In anticipation of his arrival the Paris publisher Le Clerc reprinted them in 1736, as Six quatuors a violon, flute, viole ou violoncelle et basse continue. In the meantime, Telemann had composed a second set of six quartets. These, too, were printed by Le Clerc, in 1738 during Telemann’s stay in Paris, under the title Nouveaux quatuors en six suites: à une flûte traversiere, un violon, une basse de viole, où violoncel, et basse continuë. All twelve quartets were played during the composer's visit, by the four musicians who had invited him and doubtless accompanied by Telemann himself on the harpsichord. So that Forqueray and Edouard could take turns playing the solo and continuo bass lines, Telemann composed separate versions of the obbligato part, one for viola da gamba and the other for cello—"a cunning diplomatic gesture, which is typical of Telemann's practical mind" (Bergmann 1967, 1101).

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