Credits:

Georg Kalweit, Berlin Early Music Academy, Marie-Sophie Pollak, Reinhardt Rankel

Description:

Telemann’s “Pimpinone” premiered on September 27, 1725 at the Gensemarkt Opera House in Hamburg as an interlude to Handel’s opera “Tamerlano,” and became so popular that it was included in Hamburg’s performance program until 1740. The same original work was set to music by Albinoni in 1708, but Telemann and librettist Johann Philipp Praetorius adapted it to the Hamburg style, adding new text for some arias and duets and making it a delightful opera, which Telemann himself loved, In 1728, he published it at his own expense. One of the reasons for the success of this three-part interlude play, as well as Telemann’s music, seems to be his keen eye for the professional and private spheres of the time. The harsh lives of single women, the importance of marriage qualifications based on wealth and social status, the injustice of patri