“But what a lot of trouble I caused myself with this opera!
A multitude of musical enemies came to my mother to tell her that I would become a conjurer, tightrope walker, minstrel or trainer of guinea pigs etc., if I didn’t put an end to my music soon.
Thus said, thus done! They took away all my scores and instruments, and robbed me of half of my life.”

– George Philipp Telemann

After composing his opera Sigismundo at the age of 12, George Philipp Telemann (1681–1767) was already wrestling with external expectations and his creativity within.

Bowing to his mother’s pressure, and with all thoughts of a career in music behind him, Telemann set off “with the greatest reluctance” to study law at the University of Leipzig in 1701.

Journeying through Halle on his way to Leipzig, Telemann made the acquaintance of a young man named Georg Frideric Handel (1685-1759), who had enrolled at the University in Halle to study law.

It was a remarkable meeting of brilliance and the beginning of a life-long friendship. Writing in one of his three autobiographical essays, Telemann...