Hans Leo Hassler was a German composer who is regarded as the finest that Germany produced in the late 16th century. As a composer Hassler did not contribute any specific innovations to the music of his time however, he does represent the large influence that the Italian school had on the rest of Europe at the time. He was one of the first of many composers to travel south over the Alps to study in Italy. He only spent a relatively short time studying in Venice with Andrea Gabrielli , however, the stylistic and formal traits that he brought back with him were popularized throughout Europe largely due to his quality as a composer.
Venetian music was characteristically full and rich in texture, homophonic rather than contrapuntal, varied and colorful in sonority. Massive chordal harmonies replaced the intricate polyphonic lines of the Franco Flemish Composers. The reason that the venetian style used a homophonic choral style with broad rhythmic organization was largely due to a single building.
This new synthesis between German seriousness and Italian suavity displayed itself in his polished melodic lines sure harmonic structure and clearly articulated form. This style sewed the seed for the musical style that would eventually come to life in the Baroque period.
As an example of how these styles formed the foundations of the Baroque period we can take the rather convienient examples of one of Hasslers Lieds. Mein G Muth ist mir verwirret (my peace of mind is shattered by a tender maidens charms) play song
* Was one of the first in a long line of German musicians who journeyed south of the Alps for study in Italian musical centres.
* Following studies with Andrea Gabrielli in Venice (1584–5), he played a pivotal role in the dissemination of Italian formal and stylistic idioms in Germany.
* His output included canzonettas, masses, polychoral motets and lieder, which were widely circulated and influential. Hassler was also active throughout his life as an organist and consultant to organ builders.
* While he published no instrumental music during his lifetime, a substantial repertory of keyboard works attributable to him survives in manuscript, and among these are compositions remarkable in both scope and quality.
