HASSE MUSEUM
The most successful composer of mid-18th-century opera seria, Johann Adolf Hasse, was born in 1699 in Bergedorf, a small town 18 km south of Hamburg. His father and grandfather had been organists at the church next door, SS Peter and Paul; they lived in a house, now Alte Holstenstrafie 79, backing on to a little lake, built for the organist in 1630. Since 1991 it has been the home of the Bergedorf Hasse-Gesellschaft, founded in 1910, whose archive holds contemporary manuscript scores of some of Hasse’s works, printed librettos, portraits and a comprehensive microfilm study collection. One room of the house is used for exhibition space.
Hasse received his earliest musical training from his father, who sent him to Hamburg for further study in 1714; four years later he joined the Hamburg opera company. The experience of singing Italian opera whetted his appetite for all things Italian. In 1730 he married the admired Venetian soprano Faustina Bordoni. He never returned to Bergedorf, dividing his time between the Habsburg court in Vienna and the opera houses of Dresden and Venice; it was in Venice that he died, on 16 December 1783. Nevertheless, Bergedorf is proud of its connection (there is a Hassestrafie and a Hasse-Aula) and continues to celebrate it through performances by the Hasse-Chor and -Orchester.
