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

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Missa solemnis (Beethoven)</span> 1824 mass by Beethoven

The Missa solemnis in D major, Op. 123, is a Solemn Mass composed by Ludwig van Beethoven from 1819 to 1823. It was first performed on 7 April 1824 in Saint Petersburg, Russia, under the auspices of Beethoven's patron Prince Nikolai Galitzin; an incomplete performance was given in Vienna on 7 May 1824, when the Kyrie, Credo, and Agnus Dei were conducted by the composer. It is generally considered one of the composer's supreme achievements and, along with Bach's Mass in B minor, one of the most significant Mass settings of the common practice period.

<i>Great Mass in C minor</i>, K. 427 Musical mass by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Great Mass in C minor, K. 427/417a, is the common name of the musical setting of the mass by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, which is considered one of his greatest works. He composed it in Vienna in 1782 and 1783, after his marriage, when he moved to Vienna from Salzburg. The large-scale work, a missa solemnis, is scored for two soprano soloists, a tenor and a bass, double chorus and large orchestra. It remained unfinished, missing large portions of the Credo and the complete Agnus Dei.

<i>Nelson Mass</i> 1798 Mass by Joseph Haydn

The Missa in angustiis, commonly known as the Nelson Mass, 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mass in C major (Beethoven)</span> 1807 Mass by Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven composed the Mass in C major, Op. 86, to a commission from Prince Nikolaus Esterházy II in 1807. The mass, scored for four vocal soloists, choir and orchestra, was premiered that year by the Prince's musical forces in Eisenstadt. Beethoven performed parts of it in his 1808 concert featuring the premieres of four major works including his Fifth Symphony. The mass was published in 1812 by Breitkopf & Härtel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coronation Mass (Mozart)</span>

The Krönungsmesse, composed in 1779, is one of the most popular of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's 17 extant settings of the Ordinary of the Mass. It can be classified as either a Missa brevis or a Missa solemnis because although it includes all the sections of the Ordinary, it is relatively short.

<i>Theresienmesse</i> Mass by Joseph Haydn

Theresienmesse is a mass in B-flat major written by Joseph Haydn and named after Maria Theresa of the Two Sicilies, empress consort of Francis II. The empress herself was the soprano soloist at private performances of both The Creation and The Seasons in May 1801 at the Viennese Court. The title does not appear on the autograph score, which is labeled simply with the Latin word "Missa".

<i>Missa brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo</i>

The Missa brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo, Hob. XXII:7, Novello 8, is a mass in B-flat major by Joseph Haydn. The missa brevis was written around 1775 for the order of the Barmherzige Brüder in Eisenstadt, whose patron saint was John of God. Scored modestly for soprano, four-part mixed choir, two violins, organ and bass, it is known as the Kleine Orgelmesse due to an extended organ solo in the Benedictus movement which also includes the only featured solo voice - a soprano.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Missa Sancti Bernardi von Offida</span>

The Missa Sancti Bernardi von Offida is a mass in B-flat major by Joseph Haydn, Hob. XXII:10, Novello 1, was written the same year as the Missa in tempore belli (1796), and it "may have been the first mass Haydn wrote after his return from England." Yet it may also have been the second. It is usually given as Haydn's ninth setting of the mass, though its Hoboken number is XXII:10. This mass was written in honor of St. Bernard of Offida, a Capuchins who devoted himself to helping the poor; a century after the friar's death, he was beatified by Pope Pius VI.

The Harmoniemesse in B-flat major by Joseph Haydn, Hob. XXII:14, Novello 6, was written in 1802. It was Haydn's last major work. It is because of the prominence of the winds in this mass and "the German terminology for a kind of wind ensemble, Harmonie," that this mass setting is called "Harmoniemesse" or "Wind Band Mass". Besides flute, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns in B-flat, 2 trumpets in B-flat, the mass also calls for choir, timpani, strings, and organ, the latter supplying figured bass for most of the duration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Missa Cellensis in honorem Beatissimae Virginis Mariae</span>

The Missa Cellensis in honorem Beatissimae Virginis Mariae in C major by Joseph Haydn, Hob. XXII:5, Novello 3, was originally written in 1766, after Haydn was promoted to Kapellmeister at Eszterháza following the death of Gregor Joseph Werner. The original title as it appears on the only surviving fragment of Haydn's autograph score, that has been discovered around 1970 in Budapest, clearly assigns the mass to the pilgrimage cult of Mariazell, Styria. Until that discovery, the work was known as Missa Sanctae Caeciliae, or in German Cäcilienmesse, a title probably attributed to the mass in the 19th century. Whether the alternative title refers to a performance of the piece by the St. Cecilia's Congregation, a Viennese musician's fraternity, on some St. Cecilia's day, as has been suggested, remains speculation.

Austrian composer, Michael Haydn's Missa Hispanica or Missa a due cori, Klafsky I:17, MH 422, was presumably written for Spain, but there is no evidence of its ever having been performed there during Haydn's lifetime. The mass is scored for 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 horns in low C, F and G, 2 trumpets in C, timpani, strings, basso continuo, SATB soloists, and two mixed choirs.

Michael Haydn completed the Missa in honorem Sanctae Ursulae, Klafsky 1:18, MH 546, on August 5, 1793, probably for use at the ceremony in which Ursula Oswald, the daughter of a friend, professed her religious vows at the Benedictine Abbey of Frauenwörth Chiemsee. Because of that fact, the Mass is sometimes known as the Chiemsee Mass.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Francis Mass</span>

The St. Francis Mass is the shorter name for the Missa sub titulo Sancti Francisci Seraphici composed by Michael Haydn. He completed it on 16 August 1803, apparently at the request of Empress Maria Theresa for a name day celebration.

Missa Sanctissimae Trinitatis in A minor, ZWV 17, is the a vocal-instrumental sacred work, written by Czech Baroque composer Jan Dismas Zelenka. It was completed in 1736 as the first of five high masses he wrote in the last ten years of his life.

Mass in B minor structure Structure of the movements in Bachs Mass in B minor

The Mass in B minor is Johann Sebastian Bach's only setting of the complete Latin text of the Ordinarium missae. Towards the end of his life, mainly in 1748 and 1749, he finished composing new sections and compiling it into a complex, unified structure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mass in G major, K. 49</span>

Mozart's Mass in G major, K. 49/47d), is his first full mass. It is a missa brevis scored for SATB soloists and choir, violin I and II, viola, and basso continuo.

Missa Sancti Nicolai, Mass No. 6 in G major, Hob. XXII/6, also known as the Nicolaimesse, is a mass by Joseph Haydn, composed around 1772 and revised in 1802.

The Missa Votiva is a mass composed by the Czech Baroque composer Jan Dismas Zelenka in 1739, Dresden. The Missa Votiva is about seventy minutes long, and its twenty parts range from forty-five seconds to over seven minutes in length.

<i>Missa Cellensis</i>

Missa cellensis refers to two masses by Joseph Haydn:

Missa L'Homme armé is a part of an mass by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. It was published in 1570 and consists of four movements.

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. Playing Before the Lord: The Life and Work of Joseph Haydn Calvin Stapert · 2014 p 235 " The Missa in Tempore Belli - 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. Haydn: A Creative Life in Music Karl Geiringer · 1982 p346 "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. The String Quartets of Joseph Haydn Floyd Grave, Margaret Grave · 2006 p339 "... 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. James Keller. San Francisco Symphony annotator. April 2008
  6. 1 2 Landon, H. C. R., ed. (1962). Missa in tempore belli. Bärenreiter.
  7. J. M. Cameron (2006). The Crucifixion in Music: An Analytical Survey of the Crucifixus between 1680 and 1800 Contextual Bach Studies No. 1, The Scarecrow Press, Inc. p. 197