GEORG PHILIPP TELEMANN’S FLOWERS FOUND IN PHILADELPHIA GARDENS
“While music is my field and plow, and serves to give me many of my keenest pleasures, I have lately attached myself to a new suitor, namely the love of flowers” – Telemann, 1742
Georg Philipp Telemann (1681 – 1767), Germany’s most feted baroque composer during his lifetime, tended to a beloved flower garden and solicited plants from his friends across Europe. In 1754 Handel sent his garden-loving friend Telemann a crate of “the best plants in all England (possibly from the Chelsea Physick Garden), having first secured a list of Telemann’s requirements”.
Philip Miller was the head gardener at the Chelsea Garden, and long time friend of and collaborator with Peter Collinson, a customer, and correspondent of John Bartram in Philadelphia. Who would have thought there was such a connection between Telemann and Bartram!
We are delighted to work with the staff at Bartram’s Garden and the gardens at The Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of Landmarks to celebrate Telemann 360°. You can find plants and flowers from Telemann’s 1742 Garden in these fine Philadelphia Gardens during the Summer and Fall of 2017, where they will be marked as they bloom:
Bartram’s Garden
5400 Lindbergh Blvd.
Powel House
244 South 3rd St.
Hill-Physick House
321 South 4th St.
For more information, you can see a full list compiled by Joel Fry, curator at Bartram’s, of Plants in Georg Philipp Telemann’s Garden »
Major support for Telemann 360° has been provided by the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage