The story of
Pyramus and Thisbe
("
Piramo e Tisbe
") came down from ancient Greece to the modern world via Ovid. The tale is the subject of jokes among people who study classical mythology, but this is not really fair inasmuch as it seems likely that
Shakespeare
took inspiration for Romeo and Juliet from
(and he was one of the big jokers, in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Another artist thus inspired was composer
J.A. Hasse
, who is not much known to the general public these days but who was arguably the most popular German composer of Italian opera in the middle of the 18th century. His
is said to be one of his best works, and curiosity about it seems to have propelled this album onto classical best-seller charts in the late summer of 2025. The
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin
gets what is best about the work. Premiered in Vienna in 1768, it is not
Mozart
or
Gluck
, but it is inarguably a progressive work from a nearly 70-year-old composer. Consider the opening four-section Sinfonia, an instrumental symphony that lives up to its name. The singers, led by
Roberta Mameli
as Tisbe, throw themselves into the work with commitment, and concertmaster
Bernhard Forck
(there is no conductor) keeps the action-filled, compact plot moving along. Those who have wanted to hear some of
Hasse
's music couldn't do better than this. ~ James Manheim