Bernhard Joachim Hagen was born in April 1720, possibly in or near Hamburg, and died on 9 December 1787 in Ansbach. In 1737 he was already employed at the Bayreuth court as assistant to the violinist and Kapellmeister Johann Pfeiffer, and was later listed as a court violinist. Adam Falckenhagen and Charles Durant, also engaged at the Bayreuth court, may have further trained him in playing the lute. He held this post at Bayreuth and, from 1769, at the Ansbach court until his death.

He was one of the most important lute composers after Sylvius Leopold Weiss, more so than his own teachers Falckenhagen and Durant. Thirty-three of his compositions survive in the Staats- und Stadtbibliothek Augsburg. They include twelve solo lute sonatas, six trios for lute, violin and cello, two lute concerti, and many lute arrangements of works by Geminiani, Locatelli and Arne. His sonatas have also been recorded on three CDs by the lutenist Robert Barto.

Sources:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernhard_Joachim_Hagen
• https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q825368