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Johann Wilhelm Hässler 1747–1822 1
Fantasia in C minor (Leipzig, 1776)
6’41
2 3 4
Sonata in D (Leipzig, 1776) I. Allegro di Molto II. Andante III. Con Brio
5’23 4’03 2’24
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Fantasia in A (Leipzig, 1779)
1’34
6 7 8
Sonata in A (Leipzig, 1779) I. [Moderato] II. Adagio III. Scherzo-Allegro
4’28 4’49 2’00
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Fantasia in D (Leipzig, 1786)
1’09
Sonata in D minor (Leipzig, 1779) 10 I. [Allegro] 11 II. Arioso 12 III. Presto
1’45 2’21 1’52
13 Fantasia in C (Erfurt, 1782)
1’46
14 Rondeau in C (Leipzig, 1779)
2’07 3
15 Ariette mit einigen Veräderungen (Leipzig, 1786) ‘Der Demoisel Scherniß in Erfurth zugeeignet’ 16 Fantasia in E minor (Moscow, 1803)
5’31
Sonata in A minor (Leipzig, 1776) 17 I. Poco allegro 18 II. Largo 19 III. Presto
5’06 2’34 5’46
Michele Benuzzi harpsichord Harpsichord: Robert Falkener, London, 1773. Russell Collection, Edinburgh (UK).
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6’04
Johann Wilhelm Hässler The life Johann Wilhelm Hässler was born in Erfurt in 1747. He had his first music lessons from his uncle, Johann Kittel, who was one of the last pupils of Johann Sebastian Bach. In 1771 he went to Hamburg, where he met Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: he was able to spend time listening to him playing and learning from him. On one of his journeys, Hässler met Mozart in Dresden in 1789, and they had a contest at the house of the Russian Ambassador. Hässler wrote his autobiography in 1786, so that event is not mentioned there, but we have a report about it from a letter written by Mozart to his wife. From the defensive tone of Mozart’s remarks, it seems Hässler may have really given him some cause for worry. During the twenty-year period from 1770 to 1790, he undertook concert tours both within Germany and in several European cities. In 1790 he moved to England, where he stayed for two years before going to St. Petersburg, to be employed by the Grand Duke Alexander, and later to Moscow, where he died on his birthday, 29 March 1822. Hässler published a large quantity of music during his life. While he was in Germany, the editions were organized into Sammlungen: collections of fantasies, sonatas, little pieces, chamber music and lieder. During the Russian years, he reprinted his music, giving the pieces opus numbers; most of this
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music was taken from the previous collections, but in some cases he extended and enriched the pieces. The style of Hässler’s music is quite complicated. Different elements and moods coexist: the dramatic, the theatrical, and even the bizarre are juxtaposed with delicacy, melancholy, and grace. On one hand his music embraces the Empfindsamkeit (sensitive style) of C.P.E. Bach, and on the other hand he embraces the heritage of J.S. Bach. These characteristics combine to create a rich and colourful language. The same applied to Hässler’s playing: the accounts of the time used such expressions as ‘indescribably sensitive playing’, and spoke of his ‘skill in imbuing the most exhilarating Prestissimo with expression that yielded little in tenderness and feeling to any Adagio’. Forkel listed him among the ‘masters of clavichord and harpsichord’. The mystery I got into contact with Hässler’s works through hearing a CD of music ascribed to W.F. Bach, when I fell in love with two wonderful pieces that were recorded there: the Fantasia in C minor and the Sonata in A minor. For a long time I looked for the music: one day I was in the library and I was flipping the pages of an old edition of Le trésor des pianists, issued by Aristide and Louise Farrenc from 1861 to 1872, when I discovered the Fantasia in C minor. My enthusiasm was so great that I went straight to the copying machine and asked for a copy. I had to beg the lady there, as it was past closing time… but finally I was able to get a copy, and I went home happy with my Fantasia. 6
On the left corner of the first page there was a note: J. W. Haessler, 1776. I was convinced from the CD that the piece was by W. F. Bach, and I had no idea who this Hässler was, but this mystery made me curious. After a few days, during which I studied and played the Fantasia, a question come up: if this Fantasia is not in the edition of W. F.’s Fantasias, and the A minor Sonata is not in the edition of W. F.’s Sonatas, that might be another work by this Hässler. So I went back to the library and I asked again for the same book and, with more joy than surprise, I found the Sonata and many other pieces. The mystery had grown so I decided to search for more information. Finally I discovered where the original was, and I asked for a copy from the Gotha Landesbibliothek in Germany. In 1997, during the Clavichord Symposium in Magnano (Italy), Christopher Hogwood gave a wonderful paper on Hässler and subsequently wrote an article including an English translation of Hässler’s autobiography. Finally the mystery was solved. There is an anonymous manuscript at the Berliner Staatsbibliothek (Mus. ms. Bach 883) containing ‘I Fantasia and VI Sonates’ as issued in print by Hässler in Leipzig in 1776. This music is not mentioned in the Falck catalogue, but an editor, perhaps because of the similarity in style, attributed it to W.F. Bach and published it under his name.
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The harpsichord Hässler lived and wrote at the time when the harpsichord was in its sunset, but almost all Hässler’s music fits splendidly on a harpsichord or on a clavichord or on a piano. For me, every instrument can underline different aspects of late eighteenth-century music, and an interpreter can validly play with a different sonority and using the characteristics of his instrument. In the final period of harpsichord-making, pedals were added for changing registers, and in some cases makers added the peau de buffle (leather quills instead of bird quills) to produce a sweeter and smoother, more delicate sound. For me, this is strong evidence that 18th-century people still liked and played harpsichords: instruments were still being made by Kirkman as late as 1809. So I am quite convinced that all this kind of music can be played on a harpsichord as well as on other keyboard instruments. The performer has to find the perfect balance between sound and expressivity: I hope I have done so. For this recording I used the harpsichord made by Robert Falkener in London in 1773, by kind permission of the Russell Collection in Edinburgh (UK). Michele Benuzzi
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Michele Benuzzi Michele Benuzzi studied the harpsichord with Ottavio Dantone and obtained the harpsichord Performing Diploma at the Royal College of Music in London. In 2003 he won the third prize at the seventeenth Yamanashi International Harpsichord Competition in Japan. From 1995 to 2002 in France, he promoted, and played with other harpsichordists, the opera omnia of Domenico Scarlatti’s Sonatas. He is the founder of Arcomelo, a group performing seventeenth and eighteenth-century music with period instruments. With Arcomelo he has recorded C.P.E. Bach’s harpsichord concertos and W. F. Bach’s harpsichord concertos and sinfonias, both for the label La Bottega Discantica in Milan. He has also recorded a selection of Domenico Scarlatti’s Sonatas, using the 1764 Johann Adolf Hass harpsichord in the Russell Collection in Edinburgh and, for London Independent Records, a CD entitled Hamburg 1705, using the Johan Daniel Dulcken harpsichord from the Barnes Collection. These CDs have received critical acclaim. Appreciated for the expressiveness of his performance and for the beautiful quality of his tone production, he is invited to perform as a soloist in Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
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Acknowledgements I would like to thank Sheila Barnes, who first invited me to give a recital in St. Cecilia’s Hall during the Edinburgh Festival, where I had the opportunity of getting to know the instruments in the Russell Collection and the people who work there. My special thanks go to Dianne and Malcolm Fraser for their hospitality in Edinburgh. I am grateful to John Raymond for taking care of the harpsichord and assisting during the recording; to Darryl Martin, Curator of the Russell Collection, and Eleanor Smith; to John Erskine for his help and suggestions about the booklet; to Silvano ‘Silvestro’ Landonio, the indefatigable sound engineer; and, last but not least, Mr. Trevor Pinnock for his encouraging words.
To John Erskine
Recorded: 2, 3, 6 & 7 March 2011, St. Cecilia’s Hall, Edinburgh Sound engineer: Silvano Landonio Cover: J.M.W. Turner, San Giorgio Maggiore at Dawn (1819) & 훿 2012 Brilliant Classics
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