Where is the connection between Telemann and Hamburg?
For 46 years the tirelessly working composer, organizer and publisher shaped the musical life of that city of which he himself could say that „music seems to have its homeland in this city”.
From 1721 until his death in 1767 Telemann worked a music director of the Johanneum in Hamburg and, ex officio, he was music director of the city’s five largest churches.
In 1722 the composer took over the direction of the Opera House on Gänsemarkt. He directed this historic institution for 16 years until its shutdown in 1738. In addition to these full-time commitments Telemann unfolded plenty of other activities as a concert promoter and publisher. As organizer on his own behalf, he exhibited places like the Drill House of the Citizen Guard, the so-called Baumhaus (tree house) at the harbor and from 1761 Germany’s first public concert hall, the concert hall at the Camp. Finally, Telemann proved himself as a publisher in the stronghold of the press. From 1728 he, for example, published „The Faithful Music Master” („Der getreue Music-Meister”) printed fortnightly.