Missa in tempore belli

Last updated
Missa in tempore belli
Mass by Joseph Haydn
Joseph Haydn.jpg
The composer in 1791, portrait by Thomas Hardy
Other namePaukenmesse
Key C major
Catalogue Hob. XXII/9
Performed26 December 1796 (1796-12-26): Vienna
Vocal SATB choir and soloists
Instrumentalorchestra

Missa in tempore belli (English: Mass in Time of War) is a setting of the mass by Joseph Haydn. It is catalogued Mass No. 10 [1] in C major (Hob. XXII:9). [1] Known also as the Paukenmesse due to the dramatic use of timpani, it is one of the most popular of his fourteen mass settings. The autograph manuscript contains the title "Missa in tempore belli" in Haydn's handwriting.

Contents

Background

Haydn composed this mass at Eisenstadt in August 1796, at the time of Austria’s general mobilisation into war. Four years into the European war that followed the French Revolution, Austrian troops were doing badly against the French in Italy and Germany, and Austria feared invasion. Reflecting the troubled mood of his time, Haydn integrated references to battle in the Benedictus and Agnus Dei movements. [ citation needed ] The Mass was first performed on 26 December 1796, in the Piarist Church of Maria Treu in Vienna. [2] [3] [4]

Haydn was a deeply religious man who appended the words “Praise be to God” at the end of every completed score. As Kapellmeister to Prince Nikolaus II Esterházy, Haydn’s principal duty in the last period of his life, beginning in 1796, was the composition of an annual mass to honour the name day of Prince Nicholas’ wife, Princess Maria Hermenegild, 8 September, the birth of the Blessed Virgin. In a final flowering of his genius, he faithfully completed six magnificent masses (with increasingly larger orchestras) for this occasion. Thus Missa in Tempore Belli was performed at the family church, the Bergkirche, at Eisenstadt on 29 September 1797. Haydn also composed his oratorio The Creation around the same time and the two great works share some of his signature vitality and tone-painting.

This piece has been long thought to express an anti-war sentiment, even though there is no explicit message in the text itself, and no clear indication from Haydn that this was his intention. What is found in the score is a very unsettled nature to the music, not normally associated with Haydn, which has led scholars to the conclusion that it is anti-war in nature. This is especially noticed in the Benedictus and Agnus Dei. During the time of the composition of the Mass, the Austrian government had issued a decree in 1796, that "no Austrian should speak of peace until the enemy is driven back to its customary borders." [5] Whether this is enough to call it anti-war in nature is certainly debatable because most of the mass is of a lyrically joyful nature.

Scoring and structure

The vocal parts of the mass are performed by four soloists (soprano, alto, tenor and bass) and a four-part choir. The soloists often appear as an ensemble, without arias. Haydn scored the mass for a large orchestra, even adding instruments for a performance in Vienna. [6]

In the following table of the movements, the markings, keys and time signatures are taken from the choral score, using the symbols for common time and alla breve. The choir and orchestra are present in all movements. [6]

No.PartIncipitSolo voicesMarkingKeyTime
1Kyrie 
S A
Largo
Allegro moderato
C major Commontime.svg
2GloriaGloria in excelsis DeoVivaceC major3
4
Qui tollis peccata mundiBAdagio A major Allabreve.svg
Quoniam tu solus SanctusAllegroC major3
4
Cum sancto SpirituPiù stretto
3CredoCredo in unum DeumAllegroC major Commontime.svg
Et incarnatus estB S T AAdagio C minor 3
4
Et resurrexitSATBAllegroC major
4SanctusSanctus DominusAAdagioC major Commontime.svg
Pleni sunt coeli et terraAllegro con spiritu
5BenedictusBenedictus qui venitS A T BAndanteC minor6
8
Benedictus qui venitC major
Osanna in excelsis
6Agnus DeiAgnus DeiAdagio F major 3
4
Dona nobis pacemAllegro con spirituC major
Dona nobis pacemPiù presto

Music

References

  1. 1 2 The Haydn masses are sorted using chronological indices given by New Grove. The Hoboken catalogue had also placed the masses in a presumed chronological order, but further research has undermined that sequence. See Oxford Composer Companions: Haydn, ed. David Wyn Jones, Oxford University Press, 2002, p. 475. ISBN   0-19-866216-5
  2. Stapert, Calvin (2014). Playing Before the Lord: The Life and Work of Joseph Haydn. p. 235. The Missa in Tempore Belli was composed in 1796 at a time when Austrian troops were under attack. Napoleon had defeated the Austrians at the Battle of Lodi and ...
  3. Geiringer, Karl (1982). Haydn: A Creative Life in Music. p. 346. XXII : 9 ) was composed in 1796. Haydn wrote at the head of the score Missa in tempore belli (Mass in Wartime), as Napoleon, coming from Italy, was threatening Vienna at that time. In German-speaking countries the work is known ...
  4. Grave, Floyd; Grave, Margaret (2006). The String Quartets of Joseph Haydn. p. 339. ...of the Missa in tempore belli, the composer is reported to have urged that the singers must avoid any manner of embellishment, as this would lead only to disfigurement. The letter in question is discussed and quoted in Feder, ...
  5. Keller, James. San Francisco Symphony annotator. April 2008
  6. 1 2 Landon, H. C. R., ed. (1962). Missa in tempore belli. Bärenreiter.
  7. Cameron, J. M. (2006). "The Crucifixion in Music: An Analytical Survey of the Crucifixus between 1680 and 1800". Contextual Bach Studies (1). The Scarecrow Press, Inc: 197.