Biography
Hacquart likely received instruction on the organ, viola da gamba, and lute in Bruges, his native city. Attracted by Amsterdam’s expanding musical activity, he settled there. He supplied the score for Dirk Buysero’s drama “De triomfeerende min,” now recognized as the first Dutch opera, which fused folk melodies with conventional pastoral writing. His principal achievement, the collection “Harmonia parnassia,” comprises ten sonatas whose character recalls Purcell and Corelli. Within these pieces he united the designs of the church sonata and the chamber sonata. His melodic material likewise unites folksong elements with Italian idioms.