Mass in Bb, Theresienmesse
First performance: Eisenstadt, September 8, 1799
Soloists: SATB
Chorus: SATB
Orchestra: 2 clarinets in Bb, 2 trumpets in Bb, timpani, strings and organ
(also bassoons for continuo only; not in score but included in original parts)
Program Notes by Martin Pearlman
Composed in 1799, the Theresienmesse (Therese Mass) is the fourth of the six great masses that Haydn composed toward the end of his career. Like the other five of these masses, it was written to commemorate the name day of the Princess Marie Hermenegild of Esterházy, but, for reasons that have always been unclear, it soon became known as the Theresienmesse, linking it to the Empress Marie Therese. The empress did receive a copy of the work from Haydn, but the manuscript itself is simply titled Missa.
The occasion of the princess's name day on September 8 of 1799 was celebrated at the Esterházy castle at Eisenstadt. On the previous evening, the festivities included Turkish music played outside in the square, the performance of a French play, and a celebration of the princess's name and portrait. On the day itself, a Sunday, a mass was held at which Haydn's new work was performed, and a feast was given in the great hall with numerous guests, eighty dishes, many fine wines, and endless toasts (including one to Haydn) punctuated by trumpets and drums in the gallery and the sound of cannon from outside the hall.
The Theresienmesse is an extraordinarily beautiful work with fugues, arias, florid bel canto lines, and dramatic contrasts. Its sonority is rich and rather mellow, with the only winds being clarinets and trumpets, the latter playing on low Bb crooks that are less brilliant than the usual higher crooks. There are no flutes, oboes or horns: Haydn's forces at Eisenstadt were somewhat limited ever since the orchestra budget had been reduced. Although trumpets and timpani were available to him, he did not yet have resident clarinetists and may have had to import them from Vienna.
Fortunately, the orchestral parts from the original performance have come down to us with corrections and additions in Haydn's own hand and so can be used as the basis of performances today. The Latin text is that of the standard mass, but, as in some of his other masses, there are a few curious omissions, due in all probability to his habit of setting mass texts from memory.
Boston Baroque Performances
Mass in Bb, Theresienmesse (“Therese Mass”)
April 4, 1987
Connecticut College, New London, CT
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloists:
Sharon Baker, soprano
Janice Felty, mezzo-soprano
Frank Kelley, tenor
James Maddalena, baritone
April 3, 1987
NEC’s Jordan Hall, Boston, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloists:
Sharon Baker, soprano
Janice Felty, mezzo-soprano
Frank Kelley, tenor
James Maddalena, baritone