Penzance Choral Society
Founded 1858

Joseph Haydn, Lord Nelson and the Nelson mass.

Precisely how the Nelson Mass became so called, when and by whom shall probably never be known. What is at least clear is that within a month of the Battle of the Nile
(1 August 1798) Haydn had completed a Mass in D Minor, and within months of the Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) that same mass had become known as the Nelson Mass.

Amongst his other court duties Haydn was required to produce a new mass each year for the name-day of Princess Esterhazy. Two years previously, in the summer of 1798, Haydn had composed a mass in the key of D minor. He could not have known of the Battle of the Nile until weeks after the mass was finished, so the mass was certainly not written for that Nelson victory. The original manuscript of that mass has neither title nor motto, and bears nothing but the pious formulae 'In nomine Domini' at the start and 'Laus Deo' at the end.

However, both the Mass in D Minor (probably) and the Te Deum (certainly) were performed to honour Nelson during his visit to Eisenstadt in 1800, together with a brief cantata, Lines from the Battle of the Nile, which Haydn composed for Lady Hamilton. Nelson and Haydn apparently became friends - some accounts (or perhaps legends) tell that Nelson gave Haydn a gold watch he had won at Aboukir Bay, in return for the pen that was used to compose Lady Hamilton's cantata. It is likely that the name Nelson Mass began being applied to this piece some time after this event, although the name was never used by Haydn himself.

© Aylesbury Choral Society, December 2003, reproduced with kind permission.

The writer is most grateful to the Nelson Society for their permission to extract details from the book 'Admiral Nelson and Joseph Haydn' by Otto Erich Deutsch.

Te Deum.

This magnificent choral drama in three parts was a commission from Empress Marie Therese, the wife of Franz I of Austria. Haydn was a frequent visitor to the imperial palace in Vienna. The Empress had a good voice; Haydn once accompanied her on a private performance of the soprano part of The Creation. The Empress repeatedly used to ask Haydn for some specially-composed church music, but Prince Esterhazy was reluctant to allow his famous employee to write for anyone but himself.

Evidently, however, Marie Therese finally got her way - we know not how! The Te Deum was composed around 1799, but its first recorded performance was not until 1800 at Eisenstadt, the home of the Esterhazy family, to celebrate Lord Nelson's (and, inevitably, Lady Hamilton's) arrival there.

© Aylesbury Choral Society, December 2003, reproduced with kind permission.

A review of the
Penzance Choral Society Spring 2005 Concert.

The 2005 Spring Concert of the Penzance Choral Society on Friday was the first of many planned events in Penwith to mark the 200th anniversary of Nelson's victory and death at Trafalgar, and the town's special association with those events.

Haydn's "Mass in a Time of Peril" or "Nelson Mass" was the obvious choice as centrepiece of a programme on a maritime theme. The BBC have adopted the same theme for Proms 2005, and feature the "Nelson Mass" on 20th July. This choir, directed by Tim Hosken, continues to grow in size and stature. Nearly ninety singers accompanied by a forty strong orchestra filled St. Mary's Church with a splendid sound. The four young soloists inspired the chorus, and produced thrilling moments when singing as a quartet. The American soprano, April Fredrick, deserves special mention for her key role in the mass. Small of stature, she produced an amazing sound, frequently soaring spectacularly and beautifully above full chorus and orchestra! In this work we were also reminded of the rich mezzo voice of Sofia Flodin, who captivated the Penzance audience last year in Verdi's "Requiem".

The "Nelson Mass" took us to the interval assured that the Society's climb back to its former glories continues apace. During the interval the Society President, Russell Jory, made presentations to a retiring member, Pat Chandler, and to Trevor Walker. Trevor, who has served Penzance Choral in an organisational role for many years had designed the impressive programme for this event, including in it fascinating historical and musical background information. He was also responsible for the replica of Nelson's famous "England Expects" signal which flew above the audience.

The second part of the concert comprised of three works. The first continued the Haydn connection with "Te Deum for the Empress Marie Therese". This shorter work, with no solo parts, gave scope for dynamics, as required by the text, showing the control and responsiveness of the chorus. This was followed by "Sea Pictures", Elgar's five song settings, featuring Swedish mezzo-soprano Sofia Flodin. Hers was a sensitive and lovely interpretation of this well-known work. Although premiered by the deep contralto of Dame Clara Butt, Sofia's warm mezzo tone suited these songs perfectly. Words were sometimes obscured by the orchestral accompaniment when she declined to oversing in the restrained phrases.

So to the finale. Australian bass Adam Miller was joined by chorus and orchestra in Stanford's "Songs of the Sea". First set for baritone and male chorus this work became a favourite in male voice concerts some years ago, and was familiar ground. It proved to be the ideal ending for this occasion, with soloist and chorus having a jolly time with "Westward Ho! for Trinidad and Eastward Ho! for Spain". Altogether a grand evening's music making, and a good start to Trafalgar 2005!

Soloists.

April Fredrick - Soprano.
April Fredrick began her musical career at the age of four, playing the violin. She studied for a Batchelor of Music in Vocal Performance at Northwestern College in Minnesota, USA, where she began vocal studies with Catherine McCord-Larsen. April has performed widely as a soloist in oratorio and recital venues and has a thriving interest in folk singing and jazz. She won an Overseas Research Student scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music, London, for a M.Mus in Vocal Studies, where she studies with Jane Highfield and Iain Ledingham.

Since her arrival in England, she has sung regularly with the RAM Lyric Song Salon, performing music of Schubert and Beethoven as well as rarer works by Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel and her contemporaries. April is also currently writing her dissertation on the aesthetics of the work of poet and composer Ivor Gurney.Future engaements include soprano soloist in Haydn's Nelson Mass and two concerts of Lieder at Oxfords Magdalene College as part of the bicentennial celebration of the birth of Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel. Her greatest passion as a performer is to share beauty by bringing texts to life, be it in lieder, oratorio, or opera.

Sofia Flodin - Mezzo-Soprano.
Sofia Flodin (DipRAM) is a graduate of the Royal Academy Opera Course in London, where she studied with Janet Price. Previously she completed studies at University and at the Kulturama Opera Studio 67 in her native Stockholm, Sweden, where her teacher is Barbro Ericson.

Among Sofia's roles are Mistress Quickly in Verdi's Falstaff; Lapak in Janacek's Cunning Little Vixen (Conducted by Sir charles Mackerras); Neone in Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea; Filijevna in Eugene Onegin; and Charlotte and Octavian in excerpts from Gluck's Orfeo. This year has included the title role in Bellini's Romeo in the Ice Globe Theatre of Jukkasjärvi, north of the polar circle.

Sofia has been awarded many prizes and scholarships, among them the Swedish Wagner Society Batreuth Bursary 2003, the Elena Gerhardt Lieder Prize at the RAM, and the Kelly Oratorio Prize in the National Mozart Competition in Liverpool.

Sofia frequently performs in oratorio, among them Messiah, Elijah, Judas Maccabaeus, The Kingdom, Coronation Ode, and the Verdi Requiem. Sofia enjoys lieder-singing and has performed Wagner's Wasendoncklieder; Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen; and selected lieder in venues such as St Martin-in-the-fields in London.

Michael McBride - Tenor.
Michael is a first year Master's opera student of Philip Doghan at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He is privileged to have recently performed the role of 'Tamino' in Mozart's The Magic Flute conducted by Sir Colin Davis and directed by John Copley. In September Michael will perform the role of 'Romeo' in Gounod's Romeo and Juliet with the British Youth Opera.

Previous performances include 'Obadijah' in Mendelssohn's Elijah, conducted by Mr Iain Ledingham, Bach's Magnificat and Mozart's Mass in C minor wit the Chichester Choir, and Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass and Handel's Dettingen Te Deum with the Dorchester Choir, in addition to performances with the Royal Academy Opera School. He performed the role of "First Prisoner" in Stuttgart, Germany in concert performances of Beethoven's Fidelio, conducted by Helmuth Rilling. Other operatic performances include the role of 'Don Basilio' in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro with the Banff Centre In Canada and 'Rinuccio' in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, for La Musica Lirica in Urbania, Italy. Michael comes from Canada and holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Toronto.

Adam Miller - Bass.
Adam Miller graduated with a Bachelor of Music in 1999. After graduation Adam continued his language and vocal studies in Milan, Italy. His awards and prizes include Bendigo Vocal Championship Winner 2002, Ringwood Oratorio Winner 2002, Australian Youth Aria Finalist 2002, Mordialloc Aria Winner 2001, the Gladys Bailey OAM Art Song Prize and Finalist in the Covent Garden National Opera Studio Scholarship 2003 and 2004. Most recently he has been awarded the Royal Over-Seas Leagues Bursary and the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme Award by the Australian Singing Competition Opera Awards.

Adam has performed a number of opera, oratorio and musical theatre productions including the role of Masetto in Don Giovanni for Opera Queensland. Papageno in The Magic Flute for The Royal Academy of Music, Nardo in Il Filosofo di Campagnia for Canberra's Stopera, Dick in Christina's World for OzOpera, Marco in Gianni Schicchi and Silvio in Pagliacci for the Melbourne City Opera Company, Figaro in Le Nozzi de Figaro for Con Artists and in the chorus for Opera Australia. His oratorio credits include Raphael/Adam in Haydn's The Creation and as the Bass Soloist in Mozart's Requiem and Handel's Messiah. Adam has an equally distinguished career on the concert platform, in film, television and radio, and has featured on two CD's. In 2003 he was a member of Queensland's Young Artisis Programme. In 2004 Adam continued singing with Opera Australia before joining the Opera Programme at the Royal Academy of Music, London. He gratefully acknowleges the support of the Josephine Baker Trust.