Release Date: 03 January 2000
Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 636943441626
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: HAYDN
Description
Franz Joseph Haydn(1732-1809)Nelson Mass; KleineOrgelmesseIt was only after the death of the Emperor Joseph II in 1790 that theway was once more open to composers to provide settings of the liturgy withfull orchestral accompaniment. The removal of the Josephine restrictions of theprevious ten years by the new Emperor Leopold II, followed in 1792 by hissuccessor, Franz II, made feasible Mozart's great unfinished Requiem andthe six Masses written by Haydn between 1796 and 1802. Of these the so-called NelsonMass is one of the greatest.Joseph Haydn was born in 1732 in Rohrau in Lower Austria, the son of awheelwright. Unlike Mozart, he was to enjoy a long and successful life wellinto the early years of the next century. His father gave him all the encouragementneeded to start a musical career and at the age of eight, possessed of a finetreble voice, he joined the choir of St Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna. Over aperiod of some ten years as a chorister he received training in instrumentaland vocal music, with rather less instruction in music theory, a knowledge ofwhich he acquired, as he later said, largely through the music he knew andperformed. After leaving the choir school he was obliged to find work tosupport himself, serving as an accompanist, teaching and performing. His mainchance came when he entered the service of the Esterhazy family in 1761, asDeputy Kapellmeister, eventually, under Prince Nikolaus, succeeding in1766 as Kapellmeister, now commissioned by this wealthiest of benefactorsto write operas, symphonies, quartets and all kinds of music and to take chargeof the Prince's musical establishment, principally based at the new Palace ofEszterhaza. Apart from a period in the 1790s when he travelled to London fortwo seasons, most of Haydn's music was written for the princely family andtheir residences in Vienna, Eisenstadt and Eszterhaza. The last of these, whereHaydn worked for nearly 25 years, provided a degree of isolation and theincentive for the composition of a vast quantity of music, as well as theconvenience of having his own permanent orchestra to work with.The death of Prince Nikolaus Esterhazy in 1790 put an end to thisrelationship and the Prince's successor disbanded the orchestra, so thatHaydn's services were no longer needed, although he retained his salary and thetitle of Kapellmeister. He now moved to Vienna, shortly to accept aninvitation from the violinist and impresario Johann Peter Salomon to visitEngland, where he spent some eighteen months from early 1791, enjoying hugesuccess and receiving an honorary degree at Oxford. Salomon invited Haydn toLondon again in 1794 with a commission for six further symphonies and fromSpring 1794 until Summer 1795 Haydn was again acclaimed by the London public.The accession of anew Esterhazy Prince led in 1796 to a rekindling ofinterest in music and the return of Haydn to duties under the family'spatronage, now principally at Eisenstadt. The period brought some of Haydn'sgreatest works, in
Tracklisting
Dariia Lytvishko
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; Marin Alsop
Alice Di Piazza; Basel Sinfonietta; NDR Bigband; Titus Engel
Anna Alas i Jove; Miquel Villalba
David Childs; Black Dyke Band; Nicholas Childs
Various
Various
Lully
