Et resurrexit haydn biography
A few months after Haydn first came to England in 1784, he attended the Handel commemoration at Westminster Abbey, an event that made a enormous impact on him. “He is the master of us all,” Haydn said. The grandeur of Handel’s choruses and the English choral tradition were other impressions that the Austrian took away with him upon returning home. His most well-known choral work The Creation, was a direct outcome of his English experience and Handelian influence. His employment with the Esterházys also took a new turn with the accession of the new prince, Nicolaus II, and a reinstatement of a more significant court music program. Haydn composed six Masses between 1796 and 1802 for the celebration of the name day of Princess Marie Hermenegild, wife of the prince. While these works were intended to be celebratory, the seriousness of the times–the Napoleonic war–is reflected in the Missa in Angustiis (Mass in Time of Distress). The connection with Lord Nelson has not been firmly established, but Haydn is known to have admired the British admiral. News of Nelson’s victory at Aboukar against Napoleon came to Austria around the time of the first performance of the mass. In addition, two years later Nelson visited with Haydn in Eisenstadt and most likely this piece was performed for him.
Composed in 1798, the Lord Nelson Mass was first performed on September 23 of that year and is Haydn’s largest mass, as well as one of his most beloved choral/orchestral works. It is also his only minor-key mass, set in d minor at the opening, but leading to a victorious D major finale. The orchestra does not include woodwinds--Prince Esterhazy had dismissed the wind players to fight in the war--and the use of three trumpets and timpani in the accompaniment creates a military feel, perhaps influencing its name.
The mass is also notable for the “fireworks” demanded of the soprano soloist, in the tragic, war torn Kyrie through the Gloria and beyond. While most contemporary mass settin This December, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra releases a new recording on its own label, RPO Records, in collaboration with the City of London Choir. Undertaken as part of a well-received London concert series of Haydn's six late masses the recording, under the baton of the Choir's Artistic Director Hilary Davan Wetton, features the composer's two great settings written in response to troubled times and political disturbance. The Nelson Mass ('Mass In Time Of Fear') is arguably Haydn's most dramatic and exciting mass - famous for its striking scoring, fine fugal writing and the thrilling syncopated 'amens' building to a shattering brass climax. Mass In Time Of War ('Paukenmesse') echoes this unrest with its famous prominent timpani part, yet the music concludes on a note of triumphant optimism. "The late Haydn Masses are arguably the pinnacle of Haydn's achievement; they demonstrate a mastery of choral and orchestral techniques unmatched in the period. For both the City of London Choir and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra preparing, performing and recording these works has been a stimulating journey of discovery. The sheer exhilaration of both pieces - as well as the moments of quiet intensity - has been wonderfully captured. The two pieces set the same text in a wholly different way, yet both seem entirely convincing, indeed inevitable - the mark of a truly great composer at the height of his powers." The next concert in the Haydn series is on 23 March 2017 (Haydn's Mass in B flat major, 'Theresienmesse'). An interview of Hilary Davan Wetton discussing the Haydn concert series can be accessed on the RPO YouTube channel. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and City of London Choir also join forces for A Choral Christmas on 6 Decem Missa in Angustiis — “Lord Nelson Mass” Following the extraordinary success of his two sojourns in London, Haydn returned in 1795 to his work as Kapellmeister for Prince Nikolas Esterházy the younger. The Prince wanted Haydn to re-establish the Esterházy orchestra, disbanded by his unmusical father, Prince Anton. Haydn’s re-turn to active duty for the Esterházy family did not, however, signify a return to the isolated and static atmosphere of the relatively remote Esterházy palace, which had been given up after the elder Prince Nikolas’s death in 1790. Haydn was now able to work at the Prince’s residence in Vienna for most of the year, retiring to the courtly lodgings at Eisenstadt during the summer. His duties were light, the most important being the composition of a new mass each year in honor of Princess Marie Hermenegild’s name day (8 September) for performance at Eisenstadt. Of the resultant Masses, the Nelson Mass (1798) is perhaps the most popular. Written during an especially intense moment of the Napoleonic Wars—namely the battle of the Nile—the piece is listed in Haydn’s own catalogue as Missa in angustiis (“Mass in Time of Distress”); news of Lord Nelson’s victory over Napoleon, however, was electrifying Allied Europe, and from its first performance, the piece came to be known by its present title. In his biography of the composer, Karl Geiringer notes that a chart of the battle of the Nile was found among Haydn’s papers. Legend has further strengthened the connection: upon meeting Haydn in 1800, Admiral Nelson is said to have asked for the pen with which the composer wrote the Mass in exchange for a gold watch. Written in dark D minor (it is Haydn’s only extant Mass in a minor key), the work displays an intensity reminiscent of Haydn’s Sturm und Drang works partnered with the technical brilliance of the London symphonies. The opening forgoes the Adagio introduction so common in the symphonies and several other Masses and launches directly Missa Sancti Nicolai, Mass No. 6 in G major, Hob. XXII/6, also known as the Nicolaimesse, is a mass by Joseph Haydn, composed around 1772 and revised in 1802. The work is scored for SATB soloists and choir, two oboes, two horns, strings, and organ. The revision added trumpets and timpani. Like most Austrian masses, the work consists of six movements: New Choral Recording – Haydn: Mass In Time Of War (‘Paukenmesse’) & Nelson Mass
Hilary Davan Wetton (Artistic Director, City of London Choir) says of this recording,
Missa Sancti Nicolai
Missa Sancti Nicolai Key G major Catalogue Hob. XXII/6 Composed 1772 (1772) Vocal SATB choir and soloists Instrumental orchestra References
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