ExclusiveHaydn: Mass in C major Hob XXII 9 II Gloria

【Classical music and nature 古典音樂小站】Franz Joseph Haydn: Mass in C major, Hob. XXII:9 - II. Gloria. This beautiful piece was performed by Orchestra and Chorus of St. Martin Eisenstadt. It has common licence (CC BY-SA 3.0 Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported), and is provided through musopen.org.

'Mass in Time of War' redirects here. For the Succession episode, see 'Mass in Time of War' (Succession).

Haydn composed this mass in Eisenstadt in August 1796, during Austria’s general mobilisation for war. Four years into the European war that followed the French Revolution, Austrian troops were performing poorly against the French in Italy and Germany, and Austria was fearful of an invasion. Reflecting the troubled mood of the era, Haydn incorporated references to battle in the 'Benedictus' and 'Agnus Dei' movements. The mass was first performed on 26 December 1796 in the Piarist Church of Maria Treu in Vienna.

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 final years of his life was to compose an annual mass in honour of the name day of Prince Nicholas’s wife, Princess Maria Hermenegild: 8 September, the birthday of the Virgin Mary. In a final flowering of his genius, he faithfully completed six magnificent masses (with increasingly large orchestras) for this occasion.

Although there is no explicit anti-war message in the text itself or any clear indication from Haydn that this was his intention, this piece has long been thought to express an anti-war sentiment. The score features a restless quality of music that is not usually associated with Haydn, leading scholars to conclude that the piece is anti-war. This is especially noticeable in the Benedictus and Agnus Dei. During the composition of the mass, the Austrian government issued a decree in 1796 that 'no Austrian should speak of peace until the enemy is driven back to its customary borders'. Whether this is sufficient to deem the mass anti-war is debatable, given that much of it is lyrically joyful.

The video was captured in Switzerland by Simone Schlegel and edited by Wenjing Ma.





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