Dresden Orchestra of J.A.Hasse (to the issue of composition and types of instrumental writing)

Abstract

Purpose of Article. The features of performing casts and types of instrumental presentation in the German pre-classical orchestra are being touched upon in the article. The analysis was based on the operatic works of the famous German composer of the first half and middle of the 18th century, Johann Adolf Hasse, written in the Dresden period of his oeuvre. The performance casts of the orchestral chapel of the Dresden Royal Opera lead by J. A. Hasse have been analyzed. Operetic works of the composer are being studied by the lifetime hand-written music scores. The research methodology implies the application of analytical and comparative methods. The first one allows determining the performance casts in the operas of J. A. Hasse, and the second one - developing their typology. The scientific novelty consists in studying the music scores of operatic works staged at Dresden Royal Opera in the first half of the 18th century, starting from the theatre opening, when A. Lotti's operas were performed (1719), and finishing with operas by J. A. Hasse (50- 60th years of the 18th century). The mentioned topic was partially touched upon by the authors of works devoted to the evolution of the opera orchestra of the 17th-18th centuries and the then German orchestral chapels, but some essential aspects remain insufficiently highlighted, which actualizes the article topicality and determines the scientific novelty. Conclusions. Dresden orchestra of J. A. Hasse represents the "court” (royal) direction of the German orchestral culture development of the first half and the middle of the 18th century, which existed along with the "municipal" (urban) one and had its development peculiarities. A tendency towards performance casts typification that has been revealed gave the composer the opportunity to apply various orchestral presentations - in unison to melodically differentiated polyphony under the conditions of the homophonic-harmonic texture of the Italian opera-seria. In addition to the tendency towards performance casts’ stabilization, Hasse’s opera orchestra features orientation towards early-classical style and the desire to consolidate instrumental voices through parties’ duplication. Transparency of musical fabric required impeccable performance harmony, clear differentiation into relief and background, homogeneity of strokes and musical winding, keen nuanced from musician-instrumentalists.