Solemnis. Beethoven on his 250th birthdayWhen we think of great Catholic composers, we find some who are Catholic in name only and others who lived an authentic life of faith, devotion and practice in the bosom of the Church. Of the latter, one of the most relevant is the Austrian Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), the great patriarch of Viennese musical classicism, who developed the most important part of his musical career at the height of the secularist Enlightenment, in the second half of the 18th century. At a time when the Catholic faith was often associated in the most cultivated circles with superstition, obscurantism and cultural immobilism, we are surprised to find a true Catholic among the most balanced, luminous and imaginative musicians of the Age of Enlightenment.
Without going into the personal details of his religious life, we are going to dwell on one of the most evident examples of his faith: one of the Masses belonging to his extensive catalog of compositions for the Catholic liturgy. Many of his contemporaries dedicated themselves to this type of music, among them his great friend Mozart or his brother Michael Haydn, but in none of them do we find the sincerity of expression, the illustration of faith with the music and the serene dignity of the liturgical style as in Franz Joseph Haydn.
A first series of eight Masses was composed between 1749 (at the age of 17, the first, dedicated to St. John of God) and 1782 (at the age of 50, composed for the sanctuary of Mariazeller). His obligations to Prince Esterhazy, his patron, and his trips to London to premiere his music, meant a long break in his dedication to liturgical music. Between 1782 and 1795 he would devote himself intensely to these two commitments, and in this period he would marvelously develop his compositional style for chamber music and for orchestra, to the point that he is considered the father of the string quartet and the symphony, the two most relevant genres in both types of music.
Therefore, when in 1796 he returned to the composition of Masses, his style already had an admirable maturity and mastery of orchestral technique, which makes his last series of six Masses, composed between 1796 and 1802, surely the most important collection of Catholic liturgical music of the classical period. The annual rhythm of the Masses is due to the fact that they were each composed for the feast day of his patron saint and friend Maria, wife of Prince Nicholas of Esterhazy. Therefore, for each September 12, Haydn had already composed a magnificent Mass to be performed in the liturgical celebration of Mary's Name. The third of these, composed in 1798, is possibly the best: the "Missa in angustiis", known as the "Nelson Mass".
A savior for strong anguish
It is striking that a Mass composed for a festive occasion should bear such a dramatic name. The circumstances in which its composition took place, however, explain this dark and disturbing tone suggested by the title, and also the appearance of Admiral Horatio Nelson in the title by which it is usually known. In 1798 Haydn, aged 66, is going through difficult times. His health is deteriorating more and more (he will die 11 years later), and his strength is exhausted by the tremendous work involved in finishing his masterpiece, the oratorio "The Creation", premiered in April 1798. On the other hand, the summer of 1798 was very hard for Austria and Vienna, his favorite city, successively threatened and defeated by Napoleon's revolutionary armies.
As if that were not enough, the war economy substantially cut the musical budget of Prince Esterhazy, who had to do without all the wind players (horns, oboes, flutes, clarinets and bassoons). As it is these that give color to Haydn's orchestra, the Mass had to be composed for a somewhat obscure staff: only strings, trumpets and timpani. The atmosphere, no doubt, suggests in all its dimensions anguish and very strong worries.
However, shortly before the premiere of the Mass, on August 1, 1798, the English fleet, commanded by Lord Nelson, tore apart the French squadron in the battle of Egypt, and thus dealt the first mortal blow to Napoleon's unstoppable expansionism. The admiral's name became synonymous with hope in the face of the French, and his figure immediately rose to the prominence of a savior, like a divine answer to Haydn's imploring plea in his Mass. As if that were not enough, Nelson himself went to Vienna and the Esterhazy palace in 1800, and possibly Haydn, well known to the English public after his trips to London, would perform in his honor the Mass he composed for that time of anguish and danger. Since then, it has been universally known as the "Nelson Mass".
A shuddering plea
The first number of the Mass, "Kyrie", with its trumpet and timpani strokes, written in the somber D minor mode, contains some thrilling invocations of the choir in unison, invoking divine mercy in dark times. It has little to do with the usually luminous beginnings of the Masses of the classical period, in major mode and full of melody and balance. After a brief imitative period in the choir, a chilling coloratura from the soprano, the solo part of the Mass that requires the most virtuosity, bursts over the trumpets, crying "eleison": have mercy.
The "Gloria", on the other hand, is initiated by the soprano in D major, in a more conventional and luminous style, reminiscent of the best choruses of the oratorio "The Creation". Solo and choral interventions lead into a calmer section, in B-flat major, which is recreated with the words "qui tollis peccata mundi," "you who take away the sin of the world." The tone of faith-filled prayer is serenely transparent in this luminous passage, warm and harmonious in the context of anguish and continuous musical alterations. The bass, another soloist part of great virtuosity, accompanies the soprano in this marvelous duet, completed with small interventions by the choir and solo passages by the organ. The end of the "Gloria" repeats its beginning, thus tracing a balanced musical structure typical of Viennese classicism.
From contemplation to combat
The central passage of the "Credo" is one of the most elaborate and original parts of the "Nelson Mass", in which one can perceive with what detail Haydn contemplates musically the central dogma of the faith he professed with all his heart: the incarnation, passion, death and Resurrection of the Son of God. Indeed, after a light beginning, again in D major, the music pauses at the words "He came down from Heaven." A large, slow section, in G major, written for strings and soprano only, sweetly illustrates the incarnation of the Son of God.
After the echo of the choir, the music moves on to the Passion and death of Jesus Christ, accompanied by trumpet and timpani blasts, as in a terrible funeral procession. The deep contemplative tone, and at the same time of exposition of the faith of this passage, reaches a moving moment when the soprano, in the recapitulation of the Crucifixion by the soloists, repeats three times "pro nobis": "for us". After her, only the cellos of the orchestra silently accompany the memory of Christ's burial: "et sepultus est".
Finishing the Mass, before arriving at the solemn "Agnus Dei", which culminates the Mass with a triumphant final D major, Haydn leaves in the second part of the "Sanctus" (the "Benedictus") another moment of inspired originality. Alluding to the one "who comes in the name of the Lord," he composes a military march in 2/4 time signature, again in the somber key of D minor. A strange formula for a section that in the Masses of this period is usually composed in major mode and in a serene and melodious tone. But circumstances dictate: the savior "who comes in the name of the Lord" will have to come in the midst of war and with sovereign military power to overcome the threats and anxieties that dominate the atmosphere. If we cannot literally say that Lord Nelson was the answer to this tremendous plea, we must recognize that his figure fits surprisingly well with the anxieties and hopes expressed by Haydn in this magnificent Mass.
Next, Eraldo Salmieri conducts the Slovak Philharmonic in their performance of the "Nelson Mass".
Doctor of Theology
