Hasse at Home - Cantatas and Sonatas

Born in Bergedorf, on the outskirts of Hamburg, Johann Adolf Hasse travelled a path in life and music from the triumphant Baroque of Alessandro Scarlatti to the high Classicism of Joseph Haydn, from Naples to Vienna, from Dresden to Venice, and from the French court to the Prussian, a path that made him a true European as well as a master of vocal music, setting texts in both Italian and Latin. This recording gains entry to this intriguing world of the composer not through the opera house, but through the entrances of aristocrats' urban mansions and country residences. Le Musiche Nove under the direction of Claudio Osele chose a selection of cantatas and arias by Hasse that are still to be discovered - all of them except the harpsichord sonata appear on this album as world premiere recordings, one of them being a first recording on period instruments. Although the vocal forms remained the same as in opera, it was the way they were used and the locations in which they were sung that determined the singular features of these cantatas and arias. These works were designed for intimate settings, where music-making in a smaller space for an audience provided the ideal opportunity for composers to experiment and enjoy themselves - every tiny expressive and tonal gesture was discernible.