Described by his biographer as ‘arguably his greatest single composition’, Haydn’s Nelson Mass was nicknamed the “Mass for Troubled Times”. Scored for strings, organ, trumpets and timpani, and written at a time of intense fear for the future of Austria, the result was a fiery and dramatic triumph over adversity, first performed on the day Nelson defeated Napoleon at the Battle of the Nile.
Also on the programme, Mozart’s much-loved Serenade and his delightful Vespers, a highlight of which must surely be the wonderful soprano solo Laudate Dominum.
