Johann F.W. Hasler is a musicologist whose article 'Performative and Multimedia Aspects of Late-Renaissance Meditative Alchemy: The Case of Michael Maier's Atalanta Fugiens (1617)' (Universitas Humanistica, 2011) provides the most sustained argument for understanding the AF as an early form of multimedia requiring performative engagement rather than passive reading.

Hasler argues that the AF 'requires a performative attitude and activity (in the form of singing) and not merely to be read, for its original purpose to be fully accomplished.' He demonstrates that the three-voice canons are not supplementary illustrations but integral components of a unified meditative exercise combining sight (engravings), intellect (discourses and epigrams), and embodied practice (singing). This makes the AF, in Hasler's analysis, a genuine precursor to modern multimedia — a work designed for simultaneous multi-sensory engagement.

Hasler also describes Godwin as 'without any doubt the leading authority on the historical study of speculative music,' and his article provides valuable context for understanding the AF's place within the broader tradition of musica speculativa — the philosophical contemplation of musical harmony as a mirror of cosmic order.

For this site, Hasler's performative analysis supports the treatment of the fugues as essential rather than decorative elements, and his multimedia framing informs the site's own attempt to present text, image, and musical information together.