HAYDN, Joseph 1732-1809.

Messe à 4 Voix, avec accompagnement de 2 Violons, Viola et Basse, 2Hautbois, 2 Bassons, 2 Cors, 2 Trompettes, Timibales et Orgue... No. 5.[Missa Cellensis]. [Full score].

      Breitkopf et Härtel, Leipsic: [1807]. First Edition of one (of six) masses written by order of Prince Esterházy between 1796 and 1802. Hob. XXII/14. "Vocal music constitutes fully half of Haydn’s output. Both his first and last completed compositions were mass settings, and he cultivated sacred vocal music extensively throughout his career except during the later 1780s, when elaborate church music was inhibited by the Josephinian reforms, and the first half of the 1790s in London..." "Notwithstanding their semi-private function for the Esterházy court, Haydn’s six late masses are consummate masterworks that exhibit no trace of provinciality or the ‘occasional’. He exploits the complementary functions of soloists and chorus with inexhaustible freedom and telling effect; owing to his London experience the orchestra plays a newly prominent role. Four are in B, perhaps because Bb was Haydn’s usual highest pitch for choral sopranos (he employed the same key for the final choruses of Parts 2–3 of The Creation and Part 1 of The Seasons). The other two are the only ones for which he provided descriptive titles: the Missa in tempore belli (‘Mass in Time of War’, 1796) in C features the bright, trumpet-dominated sound typical of masses in this key; the Missa in angustiis (‘Mass in [times of] Distress’, later nicknamed ‘Nelson Mass’, 1798) in D minor and major is scored for a dark orchestra comprising only trumpets and timpani, strings and organ. Both invoke the travails of the Napoleonic wars. The Agnus Dei of the former includes threatening timpani motifs and harsh trumpet fanfares, while the Benedictus of the latter culminates in another harsh fanfare passage ‘out of context’; both influenced the Agnus Dei in Beethoven’s Missa solemnis. On the other hand, except for the sombre Kyrie and Benedictus of the ‘Nelson Mass’, both are otherwise firmly optimistic; the ending of the latter is downright jaunty." Grove Music Online Oblong folio. Original publisher's blue/gray printed wrappers. [1] (title), 2-148 pp. With a part for bassoon in contemporary manuscript notated below figured bass throughout. Wrappers detached, soiled and lacking at spine. Some light soiling and foxing. A very good copy overall.