The rise of the middle classes and the demand for music that was flowing, simple, and natural to perform at home prompted Telemann to begin his Generalbaßlieder in 1733. It was a song series he published weekly for a year with the laudable aim of teaching people to handle a “figured bass” part; that is to improvise chords against a bass line written in shorthand. The texts were written by contemporary poets and span a variety of themes. Although in Telemann’s words “they demand neither the wren’s high notes nor the bittern’s deep boom,” these songs certainly benefit from a performance by a tenor as fully endowed as Peter Schreier.