Mass in D minor (Hob.XXII:11)

(Missa in Angustiis also known as “The Nelson Mass”)

for soloists, chorus, orchestra and organ

Kyrie: Allegro moderato

Gloria

      Gloria in excelsis:Allegro

      Qui tollis: Adagio –

      Quoniam tu solus: Allegro

Credo

      Credo in unum Deum: Allegro con spirito

      Et incarnatus: Largo –

      Et resurrexit: Vivace

Sanctus: Adagio – Allegro

Benedictus: Allegretto – Allegro

Agnus Dei: Adagio –

Dona nobis pacem: Vivace

After his return to Vienna from his second visit to London in 1795 Haydn wrote no more symphonies, no more piano trios, and no more piano sonatas. In fact, except for the string quartet – a form he lovely too dearly to ignore – he abandoned all the instrumental forms with which he was most closely associated up to that point.    From now on, as the newly appointed Kapellmeister to Nicolaus II, who had recently succeeded his father Prince Anton as head of the Esterházy family, he was to devote his creative energies to choral music. Immensely moved by Handel oratorio performances he had heard in London, he wrote two great works in that form himself, The Creation and The Seasons. At the same time he was contracted by Prince Nikolaus to supply a new mass every year to be performed on the Name Day of his Princess Consort, Maria Hermenegild, at the Bergkirche in Eisenstadt.

The present Mass in D minor, the third of six Masses written and performed in that way, is described in the composer’s catalogue as “Missa in Angustiis” (Mass in Time of Peril), presumably because at that time Austria was in serious danger from the advancing Napoleonic forces. As it happened, while Haydn was at work on the Mass in August 1798 Nelson destroyed the French fleet at Aboukir, which radically changed the political situation. Haydn cannot have been aware of that, however, until some weeks later. What gave the work its “Nelson Mass” nickname seems to have been the visit made by the conquering hero and Lady Hamilton to Eisenstadt in September 1800 when the Mass in D minor and the Te Deum were performed in his honour.

While there might have been strictly practical reasons why the work was scored for organ and strings with just three trumpets and timpani, the often stark colouring that results from such an austere instrumental ensemble seems, particularly when combined with D minor harmonies, to reflect the wartime anxiety experienced in Austria at the time. Certainly, with the pressure applied by trumpets and timpani in the opening bars, the plea for mercy in the opening Kyrie is presented with uncommon urgency. The pressure is briefly relaxed for the first entry of the soprano soloist but later, after a driving choral fugue, she too is urged on by trumpets and drums. Her coloratura at this point is not so much decorative as passionately expressive.

In the D major Gloria in excelsis, on the other hand, the trumpets are used to enhance the brilliance achieved from the start by the soprano soloist and the chorus and sustained by way of solo ensembles welling up from the bass. In the remaining two sections of the Gloria trumpets and timpani are excluded from the Qui tollis, which is a devout prayer in B flat major for bass soloist with occasional comments from the chorus. They are restored to prminence for Quoniam tu solus which both recalls material from Gloria in excelsis and includes a thrilling double fugue for the chorus.

The Credo, which is also in three parts, begins with a sturdy affirmation of Credo in unum Deum from the chorus supported by trumpets and timpani in D major. In exquisite contrast, Et incarnatus begins with a radiant soprano solo in G major. The mood changes, however, as the chorus reacts, in unison, to “Crucifixus etiam pro nobis”and trumpets and timpani emphasise the change of key to a sombre D minor. The movement ends in quiet contemplation. Immediately and with electrifying effect the chorus breaks in, at first in B minor but soon in D major, with the joyful message of Et resurrexit.

One of the most inspired passages in the work is the deeply reverent Adagio opening of the Sanctus with the swelling and fading dynamics of the chorus and a lovely rising line on the cellos. It is followed, as the tempo changes to Allegro, by another joyful affirmation in D major from the chorus. No less inspired, the Benedictus follows basically the same slow-fast pattern except that in this case the slower section is much longer than the Allegro. The Allegretto first part is particularly remarkable for Haydn’s treatment of the trumpets. They make an early appearance here, offering more rhythmic and colour variety than before, as the violins introduce the melodious main theme in D minor. The trumpets continue their interjections when the soprano soloist takes up that main theme, retreat while she develops it but then become more and more persistent until they burst into a resplendent fanfare in D major. That is the signal for the brief but brilliant fugato on “osanna in excelsis” of the Allegro closing section.

There is no place for trumpets, drums or even the chorus in the Agnus Dei in G major, which is a seraphic quartet for solo voices with a tenderly scored introduction for strings. The one, suggestion of urgency comes from the soprano soloist as she joins the alto but she submits to the prevailing serenity returns before tenor and bass complete the quartet. The closing Dona nobis pacem, which follows without a break, calls on trumpets and timpani to support the chorus in a brilliantly conclusive fugue in D major.

Gerald Larner © 2011