Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Chœur de Chailly-sur-Clarens & Andras Farkas - Haydn: Missa in Angustiis "Nelson Mass" (Live) (2023) [Hi-Res]

The Nelson Mass is the third of Haydn’s last six great masses. Written between July 10 and August 31, 1798, it was initially entitled only “Missa. Later, the composer, whose 250th anniversary is being celebrated this year, added the words “Missa in Angustiis” (Mass for a time of trial), which clearly situates the dramatic context of the Napoleonic wars in which the work was written. It owes its name of “Nelson Mass” to the fact that the master wrote certain parts of the mass after the news of the victory at Aboukir (August 1-3, 1798). Haydn seems to have wanted to express, by means of trumpet calls at the end of the Benedictus, his enthusiasm for Admiral Nelson, victorious over the French army. The latter attended a performance of the mass two years later, while at the court of Prince Esterházy, for whom Haydn was the appointed composer.

This work was composed three years after Haydn’s second stay in London, between the two oratorios “The Creation” and “The Seasons”. One senses the artistic impulse that the composer, then 66 years old and covered with glory, underwent during his trip to England. The influence of Handel’s oratorios is particularly noticeable, with a breadth and grandeur combined with the ever-surprising freshness of Haydn’s characteristic musical ideas.