Twelve Fantasias for Viola da gamba without Bass arranged for Flute, TWV 40: 26-37

Telemann wrote three sets of 12 Fantasias, for flute, violin and viola da gamba. The flute fantasias have become staples of the repertoire and are often frequently performed on other instruments.

Like the flute fantasias, these 12 fantasias for viola da gamba comprise short dance movements and/or two- or three-movement structures, and feel familiar in both style and construction. The melodic material, however, is different and enables these pieces to have their own distinctive character.

The precedent for arranging viola da gamba repertoire for flute comes from Marin Marais’ work Les Folies d’Espagne, which was originally written for gamba but with instructions that it could also be played on the flute. This has been used as a model for the present Telemann edition.

The arrangement has been made with a modern flute in mind, making use of low C and optional low B, and the fantasias have been transposed from the original keys to reduce the need for octave transpositions. There are two fantasias in G (Nos. 10 and 12) to avoid particularly problematic transpositions, so only 11 of the 12 keys are represented in this version of the cycle.

This version has been sensitively created and adapted well for the flute while maintaining as much faithfulness to the original as possible. Any arrangement or transcription requires a process of decision-making to find solutions for challenging passages, and arranger Leona Rötzsch encourages players to explore the original scores themselves to find their own approaches for octave transpositions and polyphonic writing. The solutions presented in the score, however, are largely convincing and provide a musical logic, with harmonic progressions clearly maintained. Any editorial suggestions for articulation are clearly presented as such.

This is a well-presented edition, and I very much enjoyed exploring some ‘new’ Telemann. Recommended.