Hassler was baptised
in Nuremburg on 26 October 1564, where
his father had been a burgher since
1555, having moved there from the Erz
mountains and was a heraldic stone-mason
or gemstone cutter and organist of the
Hospice Church. He moved to Venice after
1575, where he met Giovanni Gabrieli,
Claudio Merulo, Orazio Vecchi and others.
He spent fifteen months in Venice, then
travelling to Augsburg in March 1585
for a wedding of the Fugger family into
whose employ he entered in January 1586
as a chamber organist. In 1595, the
Emperor ennobled him, when he took the
title "Hassler von Roseneck".
Augsburg City Council appointed him
leader of the city musicians and city
Music Director in 1600. Hassler asked
for release from these duties in December
1601. He was appointed senior musician
of Nuremburg and in 1608 became Chamber
Organist to the Elector of Saxony in
Dresden. He died in 1612 in Frankfurt
am Main.
The Augsburger Domsingknaben
are today among the leading German boys’
choirs, and can point to a tradition
that stretches back into the 15th century.
The choir was re-founded in 1976 by
Reinhard Kammler as an institution of
the Diocese of Augsburg. There is intensive
voice training together with regular
liturgical services in the Cathedral,
with Gregorian chant, early classical
polyphony, Viennese classics and Bach’s
vocal works ensuring a consistently
high standard. As far as I can ascertain
from a photograph, the choir consists
of approximately thirty trebles, and
sixteen lower voices. I do not know
for certain whether an alto part is
given to boys in puberty whose voices
are breaking - I certainly hope not,
but there are boys in the picture who
must be 15-16. No indication is given
in the accompanying booklet.
How felicitous then,
that a ready-made choir of this standard
is available in the town of Hassler’s
first employment. He is probably best
known to English choral singers for
the motet Dixit Maria, but in
fact had quite a large output, as is
shown on this disc. The music is well
crafted and very enjoyable in a pre-Baroque
pattern, with a typical Continental
style of both composition and singing.
This gives a lively if somewhat four-square
presentation. The choir is well-drilled,
and the presence of boys makes for a
bright, occasionally slightly harsh,
tone. The one aspect I found disturbing
was the tendency to flatness in pitch
on the higher notes in an ascending
cadence. At other times, when asked
to hit a note from outside the scale,
the intonation was perfect. The other
intrusion was a lapse in breathing with
an audible intake in the middle of a
phrase or even words on a long passage,
but this latter only occasionally. There
is a naturally youthful sound, and the
choir sound as if they really enjoy
their music, with good attack and exemplary
word endings. The style is in the Continental
slight staccato style, but this suits
the music, and the ambience of the Hall
is very bright, with a slight echo.
The German madrigals
seem best suited to this style of singing
and presentation, and the more lively
of these are given a real swing. The
masses suffer most from the shakiness
in intonation, and are perforce of a
more serious and slower style. The Mass
for eight voices sounds rich in texture,
but in fact the performance of the Mass
Ecce quam bonum is more satisfying.
As far as I can ascertain, only Ach
weh des Leiden and Tanzen und Springen
are otherwise available.
The booklet is disappointing;
in addition to the lack of information
on the choir, the masses have texts
in German and Latin, the madrigals in
German only; translations in English
would have been welcome.
A useful disc to acquaint
oneself with this composer, accompanied
by acceptable singing from a youthful
choir.
John Portwood
Kammerchor der Augsburger Domsingknaben/ Reinhard
Kammler 