Hassler, Hans Johann Leo

Composer

b Nüremburg, Germany 1564, d Frankfurtam- Main, Germany 1612. Taught music by his father Isaak (c1530–91), in 1584 he became one of the first German musicians to travel to Italy, arriving in Venice to study organ playing and composition with Andrea Gabrieli at St Mark’s. The following year he returned to Germany to become organist to Count Octavian Fugger at Augsburg. Subsequent posts included one at the Nüremburg ‘Frauenkirche’, and in the service of the Emperor Rudolph II and Prince Christian II of Saxony. He was a cosmopolitan character, fluent in several European languages. He composed vocal and instrumental music for both church and general use, and published collections of sacred songs in 1591 and (with Psalm settings) in 1607 and 1608. See also the notes in Grove. No.439=659.