Georg Philipp Telemann was a late Baroque German composer who created both holy and secular music. His church compositions, which spanned from minor cantatas to large-scale pieces for soloists, chorus, and orchestra, were particularly renowned. Telemann was a Protestant preacher who had a robust general education but no formal music training. Despite his early musical abilities, his family discouraged him from pursuing a career as a professional musician, which was neither appealing nor lucrative at the time. By self-teaching, he composed and performed a wide range of musical instruments, including the violin, recorder, oboe, viola da gamba, chalumeau, and clavier. He entered as a law student at the University of Leipzig in 1701, but musical activities quickly overtook him and consumed him for the remainder of his life.