Even though he was Protestant Hans Leo Hassler worked in Augsburg for the Catholic Octavian II Fugger from 1585 until the latter's death in 1601.
In 1599 he published a set of nine masses: five parodies named for the motets and madrigals they're based on (e.g. Missa super Verba mea and Missa Come fuggir) and four unnamed.
The unnamed Missa Secunda is one of Hassler's better known masses. Here are the Kyrie, Gloria, and Credo:
The unnamed Missa 'octo vocum' (à 8) is a polychoral work: 'the second chorus often echoes the first, the phrases of the two choruses usually shorten as each movement progresses, there are occasional exchanges of short motifs, and the two choruses are unified at the end of the movements.'(1)
Here are the Kyrie and the Sanctus and Benedictus. Listen to the Gloria, Credo and Agnus Deihere, here, and here.
Hassler was also an excellent organist and expert in organ building. With his brothers he was 'involved in the construction and manufacturing of mechanical musical instruments - which caused some financial difficulties and, more importantly, set him up in competition with other Augsburgians who held similar interests.'(2) This led to grief with legal disputes on patents. (3)
His organ works include Toccatas, Introits, Ricercars, Fugues, Canzonas, Magnificat settings, an organ mass, individual versets/chorale settings, and two large-scale sets of variations. Problems of attribution are frequent, and some anonymous pieces may also be by Hassler. (4)
Technically demanding the Toccata 7 has the usual pattern of a stately chordal opening followed by passages of rapid figuration with a fugal section in between. (4)
The Canzonas are pleasant, technically easier pieces. A frequently occurring rhythm in the Toccatas and Canzonas is the short-short-long. (4) Let's listen to Canzona III, here performed by three flutes and cello and a Canzona from a 1619 tablature, on organ.
The Versets tend to be longer works with, again, rapid passage work in a manner similar to Claudio Merulo and Andrea Gabrieli’s organ masses. 'They include the sections of the alternatim organ mass de Apostoli as used in the Protestant liturgy.'(4) Here is the Credo in Unum Deum (I Believe in One God).
To conclude, a beautiful Verset on Ave Maris Stella played on a splendid organ in the High Pyrenees.
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(1) Dennis Shrock, "Choral Repertoire." Oxford University Press, Mar 4, 2009, pg. 124. (http://books.google.com/books?id=xgzYae1n__EC&dq=Hans+Leo+Hassler%27s+masses+description&source=gbs_navlinks_s (05/10/2014))
(2) Audrey Wong, "Old and New Polychoral Music for Chorus & Brass." Lecture, Bay Choral Guild, December 9 and 10, 1995. (http://baychoralguild.org/lecture_notes/Brass.html (05/10/2014))
(3) Marieke Morsman, "Quicquid Rarum, Occultum et Subtile Augsburg Musical Automata Around 1600." Utrecht, Thesis for Research Master Music Studies, November 2006. (http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Gh3GSDM1z8MJ:dspace.library.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/1874/20916/MT-Thesis%2520geheel.pdf%3Fsequence%3D1+&cd=14&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us (05/10/2014))
(4) John Collins, "Hans Leo Hassler, Sämtliche Werke Band XIII Orgelwerke Teil I/II." Review, John Collins website, 2013. (http://www.johncollinsworthing.org.uk/hassler1.shtml (05/10/2014))
In 1599 he published a set of nine masses: five parodies named for the motets and madrigals they're based on (e.g. Missa super Verba mea and Missa Come fuggir) and four unnamed.
The Missa super Dixit Maria, à 4, based on Hassler's own motet, is the best known. It is relatively brief, with alternating imitative polyphony and homophony. The text is set syllabically, with very few repetitions in the Gloria and Credo movements.(1)
The unnamed Missa Secunda is one of Hassler's better known masses. Here are the Kyrie, Gloria, and Credo:
The unnamed Missa 'octo vocum' (à 8) is a polychoral work: 'the second chorus often echoes the first, the phrases of the two choruses usually shorten as each movement progresses, there are occasional exchanges of short motifs, and the two choruses are unified at the end of the movements.'(1)
Here are the Kyrie and the Sanctus and Benedictus. Listen to the Gloria, Credo and Agnus Deihere, here, and here.
Hassler was also an excellent organist and expert in organ building. With his brothers he was 'involved in the construction and manufacturing of mechanical musical instruments - which caused some financial difficulties and, more importantly, set him up in competition with other Augsburgians who held similar interests.'(2) This led to grief with legal disputes on patents. (3)
His organ works include Toccatas, Introits, Ricercars, Fugues, Canzonas, Magnificat settings, an organ mass, individual versets/chorale settings, and two large-scale sets of variations. Problems of attribution are frequent, and some anonymous pieces may also be by Hassler. (4)
Technically demanding the Toccata 7 has the usual pattern of a stately chordal opening followed by passages of rapid figuration with a fugal section in between. (4)
The Canzonas are pleasant, technically easier pieces. A frequently occurring rhythm in the Toccatas and Canzonas is the short-short-long. (4) Let's listen to Canzona III, here performed by three flutes and cello and a Canzona from a 1619 tablature, on organ.
The Versets tend to be longer works with, again, rapid passage work in a manner similar to Claudio Merulo and Andrea Gabrieli’s organ masses. 'They include the sections of the alternatim organ mass de Apostoli as used in the Protestant liturgy.'(4) Here is the Credo in Unum Deum (I Believe in One God).
To conclude, a beautiful Verset on Ave Maris Stella played on a splendid organ in the High Pyrenees.
____________________________________________________________
(1) Dennis Shrock, "Choral Repertoire." Oxford University Press, Mar 4, 2009, pg. 124. (http://books.google.com/books?id=xgzYae1n__EC&dq=Hans+Leo+Hassler%27s+masses+description&source=gbs_navlinks_s (05/10/2014))
(2) Audrey Wong, "Old and New Polychoral Music for Chorus & Brass." Lecture, Bay Choral Guild, December 9 and 10, 1995. (http://baychoralguild.org/lecture_notes/Brass.html (05/10/2014))
(3) Marieke Morsman, "Quicquid Rarum, Occultum et Subtile Augsburg Musical Automata Around 1600." Utrecht, Thesis for Research Master Music Studies, November 2006. (http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Gh3GSDM1z8MJ:dspace.library.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/1874/20916/MT-Thesis%2520geheel.pdf%3Fsequence%3D1+&cd=14&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us (05/10/2014))
(4) John Collins, "Hans Leo Hassler, Sämtliche Werke Band XIII Orgelwerke Teil I/II." Review, John Collins website, 2013. (http://www.johncollinsworthing.org.uk/hassler1.shtml (05/10/2014))