Missa in Angustiis ’Nelsonmesse’, Hob.XXII

Joseph Haydn's eleventh mass - entitled Missa in Angustiis or 'Mass in Troubled Times' was composed in the summer of 1798 in the midst of a series of financial cutbacks imposed by his patron, Prince Nokolaus Esterházy II, as a result of the economic turmoil from Napoleon's invasion of Austria the previous year. The wind players of the Esterházy orchestra had been dismissed, and the composer was exhausted and ill in the wake of his preparation and supervision of his oratorio "The Creation". The work was given its premiere on September 23, 1798 at Stadtpfarrkirche near Eisenstadt. The nickname "Lord Nelson Mass" may have resulted from the work being performed at the time of Lord Nelson's visit to the Esterházy palace in 1800. The vocal score reproduced here retains the composer's original virtuosic vocal parts, with the original Latin text and an English translation beneath. The keyboard reduction was probably made by Vincent Novello in the early 19th century.