The Frogs

Telemann ‘The frogs’ violin concerto in A major has become one of his more popular works. The Concerto has a lushness it owes to the sheer activity of its seven-part texture: four violin parts, an unusually adventurous viola part, and a cello part that is often independent of the basso continuo. The entrance of the frogs in the first movement – everyone but the continuo becomes a frog at some point – is striking enough, but equally remarkable is what they do once they arrive. The characteristic sequences and chains of suspensions are unmistakable: these frogs are playing Vivaldi, for a while at least. The slow movement features another version of the repeated-note frog effect and some passages for two violins over a walking bass. The last movement is a minuet, thus exiting both the animal world and the world of concertos, which normally do not contain minuets.