Hasse, Johann Adolf

Johann Adolph Hasse was the most famous composer of his epoch around the middle of the 18th century. In collaboration with the libretto guru Pietro Metastasio who wrote most of the libretti for Hasse, they became the most important protagonists of the Neapolitan opera seria. Hasse enjoyed the esteem of Maria Theresa and Frederick II of Prussia. Voltaire called him the "Hero of the Century". Bach was associated with him in friendly esteem He was a role model for the young Mozart about whom Hasse is said to have said "This boy will make us all forget". In Europe Hasse had earned the nickname "il divino Sassone" ("the divine Saxon"). Although he was not a native of Saxony, he was ''Kapellmeister'' at the Dresden court for 30 years. However, Hasse's status in today's musical life does not do justice to the significance of music history for the development of opera in Germany during his lifetime. His work is so deeply rooted in the aesthetics of its time that it provides too few impulses and incentives for posterity. Johann Adolph Hasse was born on March 25, 1699 in Bergedorf near Hamburg. His family had been organists in the local church for generations. His great-grandfather had been a pupil of Jan Pieterszoon Swelinck in Amsterdam, Holland. Johann Adolph also learned to play the organ but in 1714 he went to Hamburg to study singing. There the poet Johann Ulrich von König took note of him and recommended him 1718 as tenor to the opera at the ''Gänsemarkt''. One year later he moved to Braunschweig where he performed his first opera ''Antioco'' at the local opera house on August 11, 1721. In 1722 Hasse went to Italy for further studies and was a pupil of Nicola Porpora and Alessandro Scarlatti in Naples until 1725. In 1727 he became ''Kapellmeister'' in Venice; there he met the famous Primadonna Faustina Bordoni and subsequently married her. In 1731 he followed an appointment as ''Hofkapellmeister'' in Dresden. He held this office for 30 years and during this time made the ''Dresden Court Opera'' Germany's leading opera stage for the first time. The vocal ensemble was one of the top ensembles of its time and Jean-Jacques Rousseau depicted the seating order of the orchestra as exemplary in his encyclopedia. Together with his wife, Hasse was extremely successful. The couple received numerous invitations to guest performances in Italy, London and Paris. However, with the outbreak of the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) the situation became difficult for Hasse. During the violent bombardment of Dresden on July 19, 1760, his house burned to the ground, together with the copies of his collected works which were being prepared for engraving. After the end of the war, he was finally forced to leave the Saxon court, becoming destitute without a pension. Hasse spent the rest of his life in Vienna and Venice. There he died on 6 December 16, 1783 only two years after the death of his wife. After Hasse's death his work quickly fell into oblivion. His church and instrumental music is for the most part only of historical significance. His 56 operas are still known today among them: Artaserse (1730), Cleofide (1731), Didone abbandonata (1742), Arminio (1745) and Solimano (1753).