Nicolaus Hasse has long been known for his chamber music and sacred vocal works, but his organ compositions have remained in the shade. Hasse’s surviving organ compositions, four in all, well illustrate the development of style in Northern Germany.

Born in 1665, Nicolaus Bruhns was among the best organists, violinists, viola da gamba players and composers of his generation. He was born in Schwabstedt, Denmark, to a family of musicians and composers.

Bruhns’s output is, unfortunately, scant, only consisting of 12 vocal compositions and 6 organ works. The organ works are four Preludes, a Chorale Fantasy on Nun Komm der Heiden Heiland, and an Adagio, probably part of another prelude that has been lost. The most significant among them is an ample Prelude in E minor (he composed two in this tonality), generally considered one of the greatest works of the Northern German organ tradition, and admired by J S Bach himself.