A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Hassler, Hans
HASSLER or HASLER, Hans Leonhard, eldest of the 3 sons of Isaac Hassler—a musician of the Joachimsthal who settled in Nuremberg—and the ablest of the three. Of his life little is known. He is said to have been born in 1564: he received his instruction from his father and from A. Gabrieli, with whom he remained in Venice for a year, after which he found a home in the house of the Fuggers at Augsburg. There he composed his famous 'xxiv Canzonetti a 4 voci' (Norimberga, 1590) and his 'Cantiones sacræ de festia praecipuis totius anni 4, 5, 8 et plurium vocum'—(Augsburg, 1591) 28 Latin motets. These were followed by his 'Concentus ecclesiastici' (Augsburg, 1596); 'Neue teutsche Gesaeng' (1596); 'Madrigali' (ibid.), and Cantiones novæ' (1597). The statement so often repeated by the Lexicons that Hassler entered the Imperial chapel at Vienna in 1601 is inaccurate, and arises from the fact that a certain Jacob Hasler joined that establishment on July 1, 1602. (See Köchel 'Kais. Hofkapelle,' p. 53.) At a later time Hassler entered the service of Christian II. of Saxony, and died probably on June 5, 1612.
Besides the works already named there exist 8 Masses of his (1599); four-part Psalms and Gesänge (Nuremberg 1607, republished by Breitkopfs in score, 1777); and five collections of German and Latin secular songs. Many single pieces are given in Boclenschatz's 'Florilegium' and in Schadaeus's 'Promptuarium Musicum.' (See Eitner's Bibliographic of his compositions in the 'Monatshefte für Musikgelehrte,' 1871.) Proske (Musica Divina) gives 3 Masses and 7 other pieces of his, and says of his style that 'it unites all the greatest beauty and dignity that can be found in both the Italian and German art of that day.' Rochlitz includes a Pater Noster for 7 voices in his 'Sammlung,' vol. 3. The well-known chorale 'Herzlich thut mich verlangen' or 'Befiehl du deine Wege,' so much used by Bach in the Passion, was originally a love song, 'Mein Gemuth is mir verwirret,' in his 'Lustgarten deutscher Gesänge' (1601).
His younger brother, Jacob, a meritorious church composer, is probably the Hasler already mentioned as having joined the Chapel at Vienna: it is at least certain that he was organist to Graf Eytel Friedrich von Hohenzollern Herbingen in 1601. The third brother, Caspar, born probably 1570, acquired a reputation for playing the organ and clavier, and was one of the musicians appointed to try the organ at Gröningen, near Halberstadt. Some of his vocal pieces are found in 'Symphoniæ sacræ' (Nuremberg, 1598–1600).