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.

Joseph Haydn originally composed his work under the title Missa in Angustiis. It was written in 1798 for the name day of Maria Josepha Hermengilde Esterházy, wife of Nicholas II Esterházy. The mass was first performed on 24 September in the Bergkirche (“hill church”) in Kismarton (today: Eisenstadt, Austria – the tr.) in a Catholic mass. Haydn himself played the organ – the same instrument is still there today. The title of the work that later became prevalent refers to the Napoleonic Wars that were threatening the whole of Europe, and the English warlord involved in those wars, Admiral Nelson. In 1800, the admiral and Lady Hamilton visited Haydn in Vienna, and the composer, in honour of his famous guest, gave another performance of the mass he had composed during the admiral’s victory at Abukir Bay in 1798, in the famous Battle of the Nile. From then on, the work has been called the ‘Nelson Mass.’

The concert is in memory of late Zsuzsa Drucker.

Gabriella Rea Fenyvesi – soprano
Lúcia Megyesi Schwartz – alto
Viktor Papp – tenor
Krisztián Szenthelyi – bariton

Budapest Academic Choir
Budafok Dohnányi Orchestra
Conductor: Ildikó Balassa

Haydn: Missa in angustiis “Nelson Mass” (Hob. XXII/11)

Kyrie, Allegro moderato, D minor, 3/4 (soprano solo)

Gloria, Allegro, D major, common time (soli soprano, alto, tenor, bass [SATB])

Qui tollis, Andante con moto, B-flat major, 3/4 (soli soprano, baritone)

Quoniam tu solus sanctus, Allegro, D major, common time (soli SATB)

Credo, Allegro con spirito, D major, alla breve

Et incarnatus est, Largo, G major, 3/4 (soli SATB)

Et resurrexit, Vivace, D major, common time (soprano solo)

Sanctus, Adagio, D major, common time

Pleni sunt coeli, Allegro, D major, 3/4

Benedictus, Allegretto, D minor, 2/4 (soli SATB)

Pleni sunt coeli, Allegro, Allegro, D major, 3/4 (soli SATB)

Agnus Dei, Adagio, G major, 3/4 (soli SATB)

Dona nobis pacem, Vivace, D major, common time (soli SATB)