Hans Leo Hassler, Vater unser im Himmelreich (der erste Theil)
Hans Leo Hassler (1564 – 1612) was a German composer and organist of the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras. He was the son of organist Isaak Hassler and brother of composer Jakob Hassler. Having studied with Andrea Gabriele in Venice, Hassler’s style is a fusion of German counterpoint and Italian form. He was a prolific composer and created works of exceptional quality.
In 1608 Hassler published his “Psalmen und christliche Gesänge”. This work is a bundle of “choral motets”, comprising 52 four-part settings of Lutheran tunes in imitative style. They have each phrase of the chorale melody successively developed in free imitation in each of the four parts.
Though written and intended to be sung, I wondered if these pieces would work when played on the organ. I transcribed the first of these chorale motets, based on the melody of “Vater unser im Himmelreich” for organ. The only adaption I did was to smooth out voice crossings: if the alto voice goes below the tenor voice I let them both switch staff. This way it’s more easily to play. For the rest this transcription follows note perfected the original. Each phrase of the chorale melody appears (often several times) in each of the four voices. At the same time Hassler pays close attention to the sound and its development the music creates as a whole. The result is a beautiful flowing piece, in which the sound evolves in slow moving arcs.
It’s great music and I consider the experiment a success. So in future I’ll add another one of these chorale motets every once in a while.
The recording was done with the Hauptwerk software and the sampleset, made by Sonus Paradisi, of the Schittger organ in the St. Martini-kerk, Groningen (https://www.sonusparadisi.cz/en/organs/netherlands/groningen-st-martini.html).
Score
Hassler, Vater unser im Himmelreich (der erste Theil)
Performance
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Hi, thanks a lot for your wonderful and most interesting work in general !
For this particular transcription of Hassler, I agree certainly with your appreciation of the high quality of this music. Also you are surely aware that the whole work figures in the Woltz tablature, that has been edited in modern times and keys. I should also be highly interested in learning if more of the Lueneburg tablature are on your agenda. With best regards
Actually, no I did not know that the work figured in the Woltz tablature. I could have known, if I had looked for it, but I didn’t. Seems I am not the first one who thought transcribing these works for organ could be a good idea 🙂
Nevertheless, nodern editions of Woltz tabulatura are not available in the public domain (as fas as I could find), so publishing more of Hassler’s work could be a worthwhile addition. When I published this first part, four years ago, I optimistycally wrote that I’d add more parts every once in a while. Turned out to be quite a while…
I’d love to publish more from the Luneburg manuscript. Sadly, I only have copies of a few pages from the manuscript. I already published the complete compositions contained in these copies and the rest is incomplete. Perhaps one day I’ll be able to obtain copies of more pages from the manuscript, or perhaps even from the complete manuscript. Would be great!
Hello, thanks for the answers ! in fact a modern transcription of the Woltz tablature can be found at the Cornetto Verlag. Of course your own transcriptions could be valued for their own merits but at least it could spare your very valuable efforts for other of your always interesting transcriptions. Cheers!