For the first time, examples of church music from Telemann's late creative period, which arguably is marked above all by large-scale vocal works, have been edited and are presented in the “Telemann Complete Works”, volume 61. Included are six compositions from the years 1759 to 1762 which were written for Ascension Day, the 1st day of Easter, the 1st day of Whitsuntide and Michaelmas, supplemented by the ode "Die Begnadigung", which was performed in 1762 on the 19th Sunday after Trinity as church music after the sermon. The melody of the ode and five of the six verses were printed in the journal ‘Unterhaltungen’ in 1766.

The compositions presented in the volume do not follow a uniform formal scheme; each demonstrates a special form. Representative and spaciously scored four-part dictum settings alternate with expressive accompagnato recitatives, sentimental arias and duets and sometimes several chorale stanzas. The instrumentation of important movements with trumpets can be attributed to festive occasions, which required a brilliant sound. All of the settings are marked by Telemann's typical and precise interpretation of the text.

Two of the texts were written by Daniel Schiebeler and two by Johann Joachim Eschenburg, a friend of Lessing's. It is highly probable that the editor can attribute two further texts to Schiebeler – “Trauret, ihr Himmel” for the music for Easter and “Komm, Geist des Herrn” for the Whitsuntide piece. The poems of both works contain song paraphrases by Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock.

Apart from the scores, this volume contains the complete texts, facsimiles from the musical sources, a detailed Foreword (Ger/Eng) and a Critical Commentary (Ger).

​Zur Ausgabe
​Notes on the edition
​Vorwort
​Reipsch, Ralph-Jürgen
​Preface
​Reipsch, Ralph-Jürgen
​Kritischer Bericht
​Verzeichnis der Abkürzungen
​Edition der Texte
​Faksimiles aus den Textquellen
​Faksimiles aus den musikalischen Quellen
​Er kam, lobsingt ihm TVWV 1: 462
​Text: Schiebeler, Daniel
​Komm, Geist des Herrn TVWV 1: 999
​Text: Schiebeler, Daniel
​Trauret, ihr Himmel TVWV 1: 1414
​Er neigte den Himmel TVWV 1: 467
​Text: Schiebeler, Daniel
​Die Begnadigung. Kaum wag ich es, dir, Richter, mich zu nahen TVWV 1: 992
​Dich rühmen die Welten TVWV 1: 329
​Text: Eschenburg, Johann Joachim