Program Notes, written by Peter Hopkins, RCS Director:

 

George Frederick Handel: Utrecht Jubilate Deo

 

In 1713, the War of the Spanish Succession ended with a peace treaty (The Treaty of Utrecht) between Great Britain , France , and Spain ; on terms favorable to the English. As was customary, London celebrated with a State Service of Morning Prayer in St. Paul ’s Cathedral, with the royal family and nobility in attendance. In this Prayer Book liturgy, both Psalm 100 and the Te Deum are sung by a choir, and Handel was commissioned to provide large settings for choir, soloists, and orchestra. Handel, always the astute businessman, anticipated the need for these large–scale compositions and had started writing them before being asked!
 

Although an attack of the gout kept Queen Anne from attending, the service was a success and Handel’s music was received with great acclaim; not since the death of Purcell had the English heard such masterful anthems. The grateful Queen awarded Handel an annual pension of 200 pounds, and his reputation grew beyond that of “merely” an opera composer. This German, who had previously spent time in Italy mastering Italian compositional styles, had now mastered and enhanced the English choral tradition on his first try.
 

In preparation for writing the Jubilate Deo, Handel had studied and absorbed the works of Purcell, Croft, and other English church music composers. The opening movement (O be joyful) is in concerto style, featuring a duet for alto and trumpet, a technique previously used by Purcell. The second movement (Serve the Lord with gladness) is a fugue with two themes, showing Handel’s mastery of choral counterpoint. In the third movement (Be ye sure), Handel reduces the forces to duet structure, alto and bass singers with oboe and violin solos. A tribute to the stile antico is offered in the fourth movement (O go your way), with a seventeenth–century style fugue and touches of modal harmony leading to a triumphant ending. At 162 measures, this was the largest such movement yet composed in English church music. A melodious trio for alto, tenor, and bass follows (For the Lord is gracious), also written in Purcellian style. The final two movements form a large prelude and fugue on the Gloria Patri text. Opening in Venetian style with block chords for chorus and winds over a fast moving string accompaniment; Handel concludes with a large five–voice fugue of greater complexity and brilliance than ever before heard in London .  
 

Modern listeners will no doubt hear little reminders of Messiah and other oratorio choruses of Handel in this, his first English language masterpiece. It is astonishing to realize that this is Handel’s first try in the English language––at age 28 he could barely speak it, and yet this Jubilate Deo has not a trace of tentativeness. Only Handel could write so internationally, summing up the German, Italian, and English musical traditions with consiseness and brilliance.

 

Franz Joseph Haydn: Missa in Angustiis (Lord Nelson Mass)

This “mass of many names” was the third of six great High Masses that Haydn wrote between 1796 and 1802 for the name–days of Princess Maria Josepha Hermenegild Esterhazy, the wife of Haydn’s employer. At first, Haydn simply entitled it Missa, but later, when entering it into his catalogue of works, he wrote Missa in Angustiis. The word does not translate directly, but can be rendered as stress, anxiety, or affliction. This may well refer to the stress felt throughout Europe during the Napoleonic wars; in 1798, Napoleon seemed posed to conquer the world. Unknown to Haydn, Admiral Nelson handed Napoleon a major defeat in Egypt while the mass was being written. Several years later, Lord Nelson visited the Esterhazy court and the mass was performed in his honor; this probably accounts for the later title, Lord Nelson Mass. The use of trumpets (including a third trumpet at several places) as the only wind instruments certainly adds a military feeling throughout.

The great Haydn scholar H.C. Robbins Landon calls this mass “arguably Haydn’s single greatest composition,” and it certainly is a masterpiece. Today we generally admire Haydn for his symphonies and string quartets, but it is important to remember that fully half his compositions are vocal and that he devoted the end of his life to writing masses and oratorios. Known for the inventive use of wind instruments in the oratorios, he is forced to do without them in this mass (the prince having recently dismissed the entire wind section of his court orchestra to save money), yet his string writing is so beautiful that one hardly notices the loss. 

The opening Kyrie is in the unusual key of D Minor, every other Mass begins in major. This is the key of Mozart’s Requiem and Don Giovanni, and an atmosphere of anguished confusion reigns. Another Mozartean touch is the bravura soprano soloist alternating with the choir.

In the Gloria, all darkness and confusion disappear, and the radiant happiness of “Papa Haydn” shines forth. Haydn honors Mozart by quoting the Tuba mirum from the Requiem in the bass solo, Qui tollis peccata mundi. 

The Haydn masses were all intended for actual liturgical use, limiting their length and therefore limiting the amount of detailed attention that could be given to lengthy texts, such as the Credo. After an ingenious opening, where the choir sings the text in canon, Haydn devotes considerable time and detail to the setting of Et incarnatus and Crucifixus. The Et incarnatus section is set very warmly in the pastoral key of G major, recalling the familiar story of angels and shepherds. The Crucifixus returns to D minor as expected, and the mood is traditional, even repeating the ominous trumpet calls of the opening Kyrie,  but then Haydn offers a personal interpretation. The also soloist prominently sings Pro nobis (for us) three times, then the music switches back to G major, reposing for a moment without the bass instruments or voices. The section stays in the major key, reminding us that Christ’s death was on our behalf, and is far more meaningful than mere human tragedy. This detailed attention to the text is the equal of Bach and Beethoven, and one wonders what Haydn would have achieved had he the opportunity to write an oratorio–length setting of the mass.

Of the remaining sections, the Benedictus and the Dona Nobis Pacem deserve special mention. Many settings of the Benedictus are sweet and pastoral, here we have a solemn procession, announcing with awe that the one coming “in the name of the Lord” is King of Kings.  Haydn also sets the Dona nobis Pacem differently than most composers, more in the manner of an opera finale than a prayer for peace, a practice which some have found frivolous. It is important to remember that his late masses were all part of birthday celebrations, and that Haydn said that his faith was best expressed in feelings of happiness and joy rather than contemplation or mysticism.

Haydn’s sojourns to London exposed him to the English choral tradition and the works of Handel, and these experiences are reflected in the refined choral writing of his late masses. In masses of some of Haydn’s contemporaries, the soloists are more important than the choir, the opposite is true with Haydn. We hope you enjoy exploring with us the riches of this early masterpiece of Handel and late masterpiece of Haydn!