If you asked someone living in Germany when J.S. Bach was alive—who is the best and most famous composer?—the answer would be Georg Philipp Telemann! His music topped the charts in those days, and he earned in Hamburg nearly three times what Bach did in Leipzig. He was prolific. His good friend Handel said that Telemann “could write a church piece in eight parts with the same speed that another would write a letter.” His keyboard music was composed more for amateurs than for other musicians. The rhythms, sometimes drawn from folk music, are often catchy and appealing. As David Andruss points out in this Gavotte, we need to hear where that downbeat accent really is! This is definitely an “upbeat” dance!
From The Developing Artist Piano Literature Book 1, page 6.