Nelsonmesse (S4 | E182)
I sit down with Mezzo Soprano Anna Kelly and Giulio Gari Foundation Artistic Director, Donald Levine, to talk about The LORD NELSON MASS (aka NELSONMESSE).
Anna performed this piece in early May at Carnegie Hall so we have some incredible insights from a performer’s perspective.
The Missa in angustiis (Mass for troubled times), commonly known as the Nelson Mass (Hob. XXII/11), is a Mass setting by the Austrian composer Joseph Haydn. It is one of the six masses written near the end of his life that are seen as a culmination of Haydn’s composition of liturgical music.
ANNA KELLY & DONALD LEVINE TALK HAYDN
Lord Nelson
Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte KB (29 September [O.S. 18 September] 1758 – 21 October 1805) was a British flag officer in the Royal Navy. His inspirational leadership, grasp of strategy and unconventional tactics brought about a number of decisive British naval victories during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest naval commanders in history. His victory on 21 October 1805 at the Battle of Trafalgar led to British naval supremacy for over another century and beyond.
The Mass
Haydn’s chief biographer, H. C. Robbins Landon, has written that this mass “is arguably Haydn’s greatest single composition”.[1] Written in 1798, it is one of the six late masses by Haydn for the Esterhazy family composed after taking a short hiatus, during which elaborate church music was inhibited by the Josephinian reforms of the 1780s. The late sacred works of Haydn are regarded as masterworks, influenced by the experience of his London symphonies. They highlight the soloists and chorus while allowing the orchestra to play a prominent role