Missa in Angustiis

Album: Missa in Angustiis (1798)
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Songfacts®:

  • Missa in Angustiis (Mass for Troubled Times) is one of 14 masses written by Joseph Haydn. Europe was in political turmoil and financial meltdown when Haydn wrote this work in 1798, In fact, the times were so troubled that there wasn't enough money to pay for a wind section, yet Haydn produced one of his greatest liturgical compositions.
  • On September 15, 1798, the day of the Mass' very first performance, the big news was that Napoleon had been dealt a stunning defeat in the Battle of the Nile by British forces led by Admiral Horatio Nelson. Because of this, the work acquired the nickname the Lord Nelson Mass.

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