Johann Adolf Hasse
Johann Adolf Hasse was born into a musical family on March 25, 1699, in Bergedorf, near Hamburg, Germany. He started his career singing tenor in the Hamburg Opera in 1718, and then moved to Brunswick where his first opera Antioco was performed in 1721. After this success, he moved to Naples where his Antonio e Cleopatra was very well received. Through his success here, he was able to meet, study, and become friends with the master composer Alessandro Scarlatti who influenced Hasse's style.
In 1730 Hasse married Faustina Bordoni, a celebrated soprano who would sing many of his works. That same year, he began a life-long collaboration with the popular librettist Pietro Metastasio. He would divide his time between work in Dresden and the Italian courts for pretty much the rest of his life. He would alternate composing comic operas, sacred music, cantatas, and other solo works. He even wrote flute sonatas and concerti for Frederick the Great, who was an amateur flute player himself. His music is described as very lyrical in nature. He carefully chose keys that would reflect the text's sentiment, the audience (i.e. royalty or operatic audiences), or both. Most of his arias begin in a major key, switch to minor in the middle section, and then return to finish in major.
Hasse's comic operas dominated that genre for most of his lifetime, sadly though, they fell out of style as the next generation made stylistic changes. In the last ten years of his life, he turned to composing mostly sacred music and teaching. Faustina died in November 1781, after a long struggle with arthritis; and he followed her on December 16, 1783.
The information for this biography was found on the following websites, which I accessed on July 20, 2016: bach-cantatas.com, allmusic.com, classical.net, hoasm.org, britannica.com, wikipedia.org, and hasseproject.com.
In 1730 Hasse married Faustina Bordoni, a celebrated soprano who would sing many of his works. That same year, he began a life-long collaboration with the popular librettist Pietro Metastasio. He would divide his time between work in Dresden and the Italian courts for pretty much the rest of his life. He would alternate composing comic operas, sacred music, cantatas, and other solo works. He even wrote flute sonatas and concerti for Frederick the Great, who was an amateur flute player himself. His music is described as very lyrical in nature. He carefully chose keys that would reflect the text's sentiment, the audience (i.e. royalty or operatic audiences), or both. Most of his arias begin in a major key, switch to minor in the middle section, and then return to finish in major.
Hasse's comic operas dominated that genre for most of his lifetime, sadly though, they fell out of style as the next generation made stylistic changes. In the last ten years of his life, he turned to composing mostly sacred music and teaching. Faustina died in November 1781, after a long struggle with arthritis; and he followed her on December 16, 1783.
The information for this biography was found on the following websites, which I accessed on July 20, 2016: bach-cantatas.com, allmusic.com, classical.net, hoasm.org, britannica.com, wikipedia.org, and hasseproject.com.
|
Nel verde e dolce aprile, aria
Maria voor 't Hekke, mezzo soprano Quirinus Ensembele |
Artaserse, opera
Cast: Artaserse, Anicio Zorzi Giustiniani Mandane, Maria Grazia Schiavo Artabano, Sonia Prina Arbace, Franco Fagioli Semira, Rosa Bove Megabise, Antonio Giovannini Ensemble Barocco of the Orchestra Internazionale d’Italia Conductor, Corrado Rovaris |
|
Duo for Mandolin and Viola
(I'm not sure if this is the original instrumentation for this piece.) Alvina Voznesenskaya, Mandolin Vladimir Bistritsky, Viola |
Bourree
Whitfield Guitar Ensemble |
Bourree and Minuet
Masa Timotijevic, violin
Masa Timotijevic, violin