Nikolaus Hasse, sometimes spelled Nicolaus Hasse, (c.1617 – March 8, 1672,

Rostock Rostock (; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Roztoc''), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (), is the largest city in the German States of Germany, state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the sta ...

) was a German

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

of the

Baroque period The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from the early 17th century until the 1750s. It followed Renaissance art and Mannerism and preceded the Rococo (in ...

. Part of the Hasse family of musicians, he was the son of

Peter Hasse Peter (Petrus) Hasse (ca. 1585 – June 1640) was a German organist and composer, and member of the prominent musical Hasse family. The first written record of Hasse dates from his appointment as organist at the Marienkirche in Lübeck, a post ...

. A longtime organist at St. Mary's Church, Rostock, he is best remembered today for his compositions of

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

and sacred songs.

Life and career

Born in

Lübeck Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...

, Hasse received his music education from his father, the composer

. In 1642 he was appointed organist at St. Mary's Church, Rostock; a position he maintained until his retirement in 1671. His life was often plagued with financial difficulties, and he died soon after his retirement on March 8, 1672 in Rostock. Nikolaus Hasse is principally remembered for his compositions of chamber music and sacred songs; both of which have remained in the repertoire. All of his chamber music, encompassing 21 suites and 14 other dances in a variety of styles of the period, were published in a two volume set entitled ''Delitiae musicae'' in 1656. These pieces were originally written for play by students at the

University of Rostock The University of Rostock () is a public university located in Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Founded in 1419, it is the third-oldest university in Germany. It is the oldest university in continental northern Europe and the Baltic Se ...

and became a part of the musical life of that school during Hasse's lifetime. After their publication, the works spread. The theologian Heinrich Müller published 50 of Hasse's sacred songs in the collection '' Geistliche Seelen-Musik'', and these are the best known of his surviving sacred works. Hasse also wrote

lieder In the Western classical music tradition, ( , ; , ; ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German and Dutch, but among English and French speakers, is often used interchangea ...

and

organ music The organ repertoire is considered to be the largest and oldest repertory of all musical instruments. Because of the organ's (or pipe organ's) prominence in worship in Western Europe from the Middle Ages on, a significant portion of organ reper ...

; but these are less known. Only four of his organ work survive, all of them published in the Pelplin organ tablatures.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hasse, Nikolaus 1617 births 1672 deaths 17th-century German classical composers German Baroque composers German male classical composers German classical organists German male organists Musicians from Lübeck Organists and composers in the North German tradition 17th-century male musicians German male classical organists