Das Johann Adolf Hasse zugeschriebene Passions-Oratorium La morte di Cristo und seine musikhistorische Einordnung

Abstract

The passion oratorio La morte di Cristo, attributed in two German sources from the late 18th or early 19th century to Johann Adolf Hasse, was identified in 1976 by Reinhard Strohm as a sacred pasticcio, based on opera arias by Hasse and other composers of the Neapolitan school like Francesco Feo and Leonardo Leo. A comparison with surviving libretti shows that this pasticcio score is identical with the oratorio La vittima d'amore o sia la morte di Giesù Christo salvatore nostro, attributed to Josef Umstatt and performed 1741 in Brno and 1744 in Prague. Czech musicologists found out that one aria which hadn't been identified by Strohm, is a borrowing from Antonio Caldaras Viennese oratorio Morte e sepoltura di Cristo. A Berlin score of this work, which can be linked to a performance in Brno, has the words of the aria from La vittima d'amore written under the orginal text. Umstatt, who worked in Brno at the time when these performances took place, might have been the arranger of the pasticcio and composer of the sinfonia, the recitatives and the final chorus.

Keywords

• Oratorium
• Pasticcio
• Brno
• Johann Adolf Hasse
• Francesco Feo
• Leonardo Leo