String Sextet in F minor TWV 44:32

Telemann’s six
sonatas for five-part strings (two violins, two violas and continuo) remain
among some of the composer’s least explored chamber works and according to the
composer’s 1718 autobiography “a large quantity” of sonatas “in two and three
to eight and nine parts” were composed while at Eisanach. This is further
confirmed in the Darmstadt sources by the 1713-14 Endler copies of TWV 44:5 and
TWV 44:32. Furthermore all of the quintets feature two viola parts and
methodical five-voice fugues typical of the composer’s Eisanach writings.

The figuration of
TWV 44:32 is energetic and it is one of the strongest and most profoundly
expressive of Telemann’s quintets along with the sextet in F minor TWV 44:32.
The opening movement is one of the most exquisite of all the quintets, followed
by a cheerful triple fugue, so methodical that one can sense the composer’s
confidence in his fugal prowess. The ensuing Grave is a sarabande and reminiscent of the composer’s admiration
of Corelli whilst the finale is another strict Germanic fugue albeit this one
lighter than the first.