Lord Nelson Mass by Franz Joseph Haydn

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CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE CONCERT PROGRAM.

Tickets may be ordered online and optionally printed at home using the form above.
Alternately, tickets may be ordered by:
– calling 770.594.7974
– mailing a check made out to “MOS” to our office (PO Box 1008, Roswell GA 30077)
– emailing your name and number/type of tickets needed to [email protected] (MOS staff will reach back out to you to complete your order.).

Tickets will also be available at the door on the day of the concert, if tickets remain, for $20/$25. MOS accepts cash, check, or charge.

Concert attendees will be seated in our spacious sanctuary. All unvaccinated patrons are asked to wear masks; vaccinated patrons are encouraged to wear masks as well. The concert will also be live-streamed. Cost for the live stream is $20 per screen; tickets to access the live stream will go on sale by mid-September.

SOLOISTS: Bevin Hill, Soprano; Magdalena Wór, Mezzo-Soprano; Nathan Munson, Tenor; and Cory Schantz, Bass-Baritone

F.J. Haydn’s Missa in Angustiis in D minor, or as it is more commonly known, the Lord Nelson Mass, is recognized by many musical historians to be Haydn’s greatest composition. Missa in Angusti is translated as “Mass for Troubled Times,” and that certainly fits what was happening in the world when Haydn wrote this masterpiece in 1798. It was a time of great concern for Europeans as they watched Napoleon rise in power. It was also then that the British Lord Horatio Nelson defeated Napoleon’s fleet in the Battle of the Nile. Although Napoleon was not stopped by this defeat, Haydn was impressed enough with the victory that he renamed his work the Lord Nelson Mass.

The work is unique in that it is scored for an orchestra of three trumpets, timpani, strings, and organ, but no woodwinds. Budgetary restraints because of the war had required to dismiss his woodwinds and have the organ play what they would normally have played. However, rather than diminish the piece, this instrumentation, along with superb choral writing and virtuosic vocal solos combines to create one of the most impressive musical creations of its time.