Né à Hamburg en 1699, Johann Adolf Hasse, surnommé « il Sassone » étudie auprès de son père, organiste de Bergedorf, puis à Naples auprès de Porpora et se lie d?amitié avec Alessandro Scarlatti, Farinelli, Galuppi, Jommelli, Haydn et même Jean Sebastien Bach, qu?il rencontre en 1731. Dès son premier opéra, Antigonus, Hasse connait le succès et commence alors une carrière de compositeur, musicien et chef d?orchestre qui le fera voyager dans toute l?Europe avant de s?installer à Venise. Auteur de 58 opéras, oratorios, cantates, concertos et sonates en toute genre, la quasi totalité de son ?uvre est détruite par l?incendie du siège de Dresde par les Prussiens en 1760. Malgré la stabilité de ses principaux traits, le style de Hasse, nettement préclassique, connait de légères évolutions au cours de sa carrière mais il reste un compositeur au goût prononcé pour le lyrisme, y compris dans son écriture instrumentale, comme le démontre le largo de son Concerto in sol Maggiore per Mandolino e cordi. De facture Vivaldienne, cette oeuvre date très certainement de la période napolitaine de Hasse et il y développe une écriture fluide et virtuose pour le petit luth, alors très en vogue dans les cours et les salons princiers de ce XVIIIe siècle florissant. Le choix de la tonalité, le discours rythmique et l?orchestration légère, constitue la preuve que le compositeur connaissait parfaitement les possibilités de la mandoline pour lequel il a sans doute composé d?autres oeuvres, malheureusement disparues aujourd?hui. Born in Hamburg in 1699, Johann Adolf Hasse, nicknamed "il Sassone", studied with his father, organist from Bergedorf, then in Naples with Porpora and became friends with Alessandro Scarlatti, Farinelli, Galuppi, Jommelli, Haydn and even Jean Sebastian Bach, whom he met in 1731. From his first opera, Antigonus, Hasse enjoyed success and began a career as a composer, musician and conductor which would take him throughout Europe before settling in Venice. Author of 58 operas, oratorios, cantatas, concertos and sonatas of all kinds, almost all of his work was destroyed by the fire of the siege of Dresden by the Prussians in 1760. Despite the stability of its main features, Hasse's style, clearly preclassical, underwent slight evolutions during his career but he remained a composer with a pronounced taste for lyricism, including in his instrumental writing, as demonstrated by the largo of his Concerto in sol Maggiore per Mandolino e cordi. Vivaldian in style, this work most certainly dates from Hasse's Neapolitan period and he developed a fluid and virtuoso writing for the small lute, then very fashionable in the courts and princely salons of this flourishing 18th century. The choice of tonality, the rhythmic discourse and the light orchestration constitute proof that the composer perfectly knew the possibilities of the mandolin for which he undoubtedly composed other works, unfortunately lost today.

ISBN 9781619119512.

The octave mandolin is valued for its rich tone and wide range of potential use in a variety of musical settings. This book contains 27 easy to intermediate pieces from the Baroque era that have been carefully chosen and arranged to benefit from the longer scale and deeper voice of the big mandolin. The music is presented in both standard notation and tablature, making it easily playable on the mandocello, mandola or standard mandolin. Thirteen composers are represented, including six pieces by J. S. Bach, four by G. F. Handel and three by G. P. Telemann.