Hans Leo Hassler (1562-1612); DEU

Hans Leo Hassler (1564–1612) was born in Nuremberg and became a crucial intermediary between the musical traditions of Renaissance Venice and the German-speaking lands. After early training with his father, the organist Isaak Hassler, he traveled to Venice and studied with Andrea Gabrieli, coming into direct contact with the brilliant polychoral and madrigalian styles cultivated at St. Mark’s. Returning to Germany, Hassler served the wealthy Fugger family in Augsburg and later held positions in Nuremberg and Dresden. His career unfolded during a period in which Italian musical influence was transforming German sacred and secular composition.

Hassler wrote masses, motets, psalm settings, madrigals, canzonettas, German songs, and keyboard music, combining rigorous northern counterpoint with Italian rhythmic vitality and color. Collections such as Cantiones sacrae and Lustgarten neuer teutscher Gesäng demonstrate his command of both sacred polyphony and lighter secular forms. His melody Mein G’müt ist mir verwirret later became associated with the chorale “O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden” and was famously used by J. S. Bach in the St. Matthew Passion. Hassler’s synthesis of Italian and German traditions helped prepare the ground for the early German Baroque.

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Read biography at allmusic.com.