HASLER, FRANZ LEO. – Organist and composer, b. at Nuremberg in 1564, d. at Frankfurt on the Main on 8 June 1612. He studied in Venice with A. Grabell and, after a brief stay in Augsburg, was maestro di cappella to Rudolf II of Bohemia. From 1601 to 1608 he was at Nuremberg, then at Frankfurt.
He wrote four-part canzonas (1590), sacred canzonas, five- and eight-part madrigals; masses for four to eight voices, Sacri Concentus for five and twelve voices (1601). Much of this music is printed in modern collections. Hassler’s music is in a distinctly Italian style and retains all the freshness of the Venetian school.
HAUCK, ALBERT. – Church historian, Protestant, b. at Wassertrüdingen (Franconia) on 9 Dec. 1845, d. at Leipzig on 7 Apr. 1918. Parish priest at Frankenheim (1874-78), professor of ecclesiastical history at Erlangen (1878-89), then at Leipzig, where he was also director of the Ecclesiastical Archaeological Institute.
He revealed himself as a historian of great worth with Tertullians Leben und Schriften (Erlangen 1877), which earned him a professorship; but above all with his Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands, left unfinished (6 vols., the last posthumous, ed. H. Böhmler [Leipzig 1887-1920], extending to the time of Louis the Bavarian); a work of vast research, critical study of sources, and fine synthesis, though marred by a lack of serenity in judging the action, especially the political, of the papacy. He also successfully edited the third edition of the Realencyclopädie für protestantische Theologie und Kirche (24 vols., Leipzig 1896-1913), for which he secured the cooperation of writers of all tendencies. Also noteworthy: Die Entstehung der Christstypus in der abendländischen Kunst (Heidelberg 1880); Die Entstehung der bischöflichen Fürstenmacht (Leipzig 1891); Der Gedanke der päpstlichen Weltherrschaft bis auf Bonifaz VIII. (ibid. 1904). He prepared the fourth edition of H. Schmid’s Dogmengeschichte (Leipzig 1887).