Michael Haydn

Michael Haydn

Johann Michael Haydn was an Austrian composer of the classical period, the younger brother of Joseph Haydn.-Life:...

 completed the Missa sub titulo Sancti Francisci Seraphici, Kläagendazs I:23, MH 826, on August 16, 1803, apparently at the request of Empress Maria Theresa for a name day

Name day

A name day is a tradition in many countries in Europe and Latin America that consists of celebrating the day of the year associated with one's given name....

 celebration.

The score calls for a quartet of vocal soloists, mixed choir, 2 oboe

Oboe

The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...

s, bassoon

Bassoon

The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...

, 2 horn

Horn (instrument)

The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....

s, 2 trumpet

Trumpet

The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...

s, timpani

Timpani

Timpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet...

, and strings with an organ to play basso continuo.

1. "Kyrie" Adagio, D minor
   D minor
   D minor is a minor scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. In the harmonic minor, the C is raised to C. Its key signature has one flat ....
   
   , 3/4

   —"Christe eleison" Allegro con brio

   —"Kyrie eleison" D major

   D major

   D major is a major scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature consists of two sharps. Its relative minor is B minor and its parallel minor is D minor....

   
   

   —"Kyrie eleison" Adagio, D minor

2. "Gloria" Vivace molto, D major, common time
   Common Time
   "Common Time" is a science fiction short story written by James Blish. It first appeared in the August 1953 issue of Science Fiction Quarterly and has been reprinted several times: in the 1959 short-story collection Galactic Cluster; in The Testament of Andros ; in The Penguin Science Fiction...
   
   

   —"Domine Deus, rex coelestis..." Andante, G major

   G major

   G major is a major scale based on G, with the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has one sharp, F; in treble-clef key signatures, the sharp-symbol for F is usually placed on the first line from the top, though in some Baroque music it is placed on the first space from the bottom...

   
   , 3/8

   —"Qui tollis..." D major

   —"Suscipe..." A minor

   A minor

   A minor is a minor scale based on A, consisting of the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. The harmonic minor scale raises the G to G...

   
   

   —"Miserere..." B minor

   B minor

   B minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. The harmonic minor raises the A to A. Its key signature has two sharps .Its relative major is D major, and its parallel major is B major....

   
   

   —"Quoniam..." Vivace molto, D major, common time

3. "Credo" Allegro, D major, 3/8

   —"Et incarnatus est..." Largo, F major

   F major

   F major is a musical major scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat . It is by far the oldest key signature with an accidental, predating the others by hundreds of years...

   
   , common time

   —"Et resurrexit..." Allegro con spirito, D major, 3/4

4. "Sanctus" Andante maestoso, D major, cut time
5. "Benedictus" Allegretto moderato, D major, cut time
6. "Agnus Dei" Adagio molto, B minor, 3/4

   —"Dona nobis pacem..." Allegro, D major

Many composers have prolonged the setting of the word passus in the Credo through the use of techniques such as melisma

Melisma

Melisma, in music, is the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession. Music sung in this style is referred to as melismatic, as opposed to syllabic, where each syllable of text is matched to a single note.-History:Music of ancient cultures used...

, syncopation

Syncopation

In music, syncopation includes a variety of rhythms which are in some way unexpected in that they deviate from the strict succession of regularly spaced strong and weak but also powerful beats in a meter . These include a stress on a normally unstressed beat or a rest where one would normally be...

, and suspension. In this mass, however, Haydn prolongs the word simply by using two "longer note values than have occurred earlier in the setting".

The mass was published in 1917 as Volume 45 of the Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Österreich

Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Österreich

The Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Österreich is a historical edition of music from Austria covering the Baroque and Classical periods. It was published in installments from 1894 to 1952.# Fux, masses# Muffat, Florillegium Primum...

, edited by Anton Maria Klafsky.

Unlike the Requiem in C minor

Requiem (Michael Haydn)

Michael Haydn wrote the Missa pro defuncto Archiepiscopo Sigismondo, or more generally Missa pro Defunctis, Klatzmann I:8, MH 155, following the death of the Count Archbishop Sigismund von Schrattenbach in Salzburg on December 1771...

, which was still in church use in Austria in the 20th century, the St. Francis Mass disappeared from the repertoire at some point in the 19th century.

Sources

• Heartz, Daniel, 1995. New York. Haydn, Mozart, and the Viennese School: 1740 — 1780 W. W. Norton & Co.
• Sherman, Charles, 1969. Mainz Foreword to Missa pro Defunctis, Universal Edition
• Sherman, Charles, 1980. Madison, Wisconsin Preface to Missa in Honorem Sanctae Ursulae, A-R Editions, Inc.