The present volume comprises the results of a conference held in Frankfurt am Main from 5-7 October 2017 and devoted to Telemann's so-called occasional music. The symposium, which was oriented towards social and cultural historical contexts, attempted to shed new light on this facet of Telemann's work. From today's perspective, Telemann's occasion-related compositions appear like entries in a diary; they document reactions to contemporary events such as war and peace, natural disasters or a 'stock market crash', which equally accompany Telemann's life at his places of work, e.g. at weddings, preacher inductions, birthdays or funerals. These works open up insights into a world of local as well as 'global' events which, when viewed together, reveal a variety of interactions between composer and society. The occasion-related compositions are thus not only of musical interest, but also represent in their entirety a contemporary historical mirror of Telemann's sphere of influence.
