Editing Johann Adolph Hasse (section)

==Relationship with Metastasio==
Hasse's friendship with Metastasio, and his appreciation of the art form the librettist had created, increased over the years. The early Metastasio texts he set were all greatly altered for the purpose, but [[Frederick the Great]] and [[Francesco Algarotti]] both exerted influence in order to make Hasse pay greater respect to Metastasio's works. In the early 1740s he began setting new Metastasian libretti unadapted, and his personal relations with the librettist also improved significantly at around this time. In one of his letters, dated to March 1744, Metastasio made the following comments:
{{blockquote|text=...never until now had I happened to see him [Hasse] in all his glory, but always detached from his many personal relationships in such a way that he was like an aria without instruments; but now I see him as a father, husband and friend, qualities which make an admirable union in him with those solid bases of ability and good behaviour, for which I will cherish him so many years...{{quote without source|date=January 2019}}}}

In the following years Hasse reset his earlier works based on Metastasio's texts, this time paying great attention to the poet's original intention, and during the 1760s, as Metastasio wrote new texts, Hasse was, as a general rule, the first composer to set them.<ref>Reference for this section: {{harvnb|Hansell|2001|loc=§4 "Hasse and Metastasio"}}</ref> Burney left the following note: {{blockquote|text=This poet and musician are the two halves of what, like [[Plato]]'s Androgyne, once constituted a whole; for as they are equally possessed of the same characteristic marks of true genius, taste, and judgement; so propriety, consistency, clearness, and precision, are alike the inseparable companions of both...<ref name="burney1773" />{{rp|pp=235–236}}}}