2019 Concert Series Haydn Nelson Mass | Page 10

Nelson Mass (Missa in Angustiis)
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809)
In 1795 Prince Nikolaus Esterhazy, Haydn’s employer at Eisenstadt,
commissioned him to compose a new setting of the mass each year to
mark the name-day of his wife, Princess Maria. The Nelson Mass of 1798 is
arguably the most celebrated of these masses.
The story behind the naming of this mass is interesting. It was originally
titled simply as a Mass in D Minor, which Haydn himself later catalogued
as Missa in Angustiis (Mass in Troubled Times), a clear reference to the
Napoleonic threat. In 1800 Admiral Horatio Nelson, heralded as the saviour
of Europe due to his crushing victory over Napoleon’s fleet at the Battle
of the Nile, visited the Esterhaźa court, where he met Haydn. Whilst there,
Haydn’s Mass in D minor was performed in his honour and it was assumed
that the mass had been inspired by Nelson’s victory.
Written in D minor, the work invokes the upheaval wrought by war and
creates a sense of unease. The dramatic Kyrie eleison opens with foreboding
low trumpet fanfares. The Gloria then reveals Haydn at his most cheerful.
The bass solo, Qui tollis peccata mundi , may well be a clear reference to
the Tuba mirum in Mozart’s Requiem, and possibly intended as a tribute to
Haydn’s admired colleague.
The Credo begins with an austere canon between sopranos and tenors,
and altos and basses, which after the exquisite Et incarnatus est leads
to an intense Crucifixus. The following Et resurrexit bursts into life with
explosive energy, with the soprano solo at Et vitam venturi .
After the Sanctus comes the remarkable Benedictus, a movement of
exceptional emotional and dramatic intensity. A series of exchanges
between soloists and chorus culminates in an almost Beethovenian climax.
The Agnus Dei is followed by an extended Dona nobis pacem which, in
contrast to the usual supplicatory prayer, is almost operatic in style, typical
of Haydn at his most exuberant.
Even with the sense of foreboding conveyed through the Kyrie and
Benedictus, the prevailing mood of the Nelson Mass is one of jubilation.
Haydn once observed, ‘At the thought of God my heart leaps for joy, and
I cannot help my music doing the same.’
© Heath Lees 2019
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