Telemann’s so-called “Op. 2” duos were originally published by the composer himself in Hamburg in 1727. The full title reads as follows:
Sonates sans Basse à deux Flutes traverses ou à deux violons ou à deux flutes à bec dediées à Messieurs George Behrmann et Pierre Diteric Toennies.
The collection was subsequently published conventionally by established publishers: Roger and Le Cene in Amsterdam (1731), Le Clerc in Paris (1736/7) and John Walsh in London (1746). It was the egregious Mr. Walsh who was responsible for the “Opera Seconda” which has somehow stuck, largely because when these duets were first published for recorders, the editors concerned used the surviving Walsh edition.
The seventh duet in this edition comes from another of Telemann’s own publishing ventures, Der getreue Music-Meister, which was published in instalments in 1728-9. Recorder players will be familiar with the four famous solo recorder sonatas in that collection. Telemann was highly practical, and for several of the pieces in the collection he provides alternative clefs for different instruments, in the present case for flutes, recorders and violas da gamba.
In this edition the six sonatas from 1727 have been transposed up a minor third in the way that is indicated by the alternative clefs in Der getreue Music-Meister. The edition follows the original print of 1727 in matters of phrasing and articulation.
(Bernard Thomas)
