Handel, Haydn, Mazzoli & Vaughan Williams: Apr 18&19, 2026
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And now... The Program - War and Peace
"Kyrie eleison" - "Lord, have mercy”
The Angel of Death has been abroad throughout the land; you may almost hear the beating of his wings. There is no one as of old . . . to sprinkle with blood the lintel and the two side-posts of our doors, that he may spare and pass on. - John Bright, 1855
"Dona nobis pacem" - "Grant us peace"
Georg Frideric Händel
"Why Do the nations rage" and "let us break their bonds" from Messiah
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Georg Friedrich Händel aka George Frederick Handel (1685-1759) was a German composer of the Baroque era who immigrated to England and became a naturalized subject, composing for King George the 1st and 2nd, and Queen Anne among other influential patrons. He was drawn to, and is best known for, large scale works that lean toward theatrical storytelling: 42 operas, 120+ cantatas, and 24 oratorios - of which ‘Messiah’ is his most famous.
About the music
Handel composed ‘Messiah’ in 1741 with libretto provided by Charles Jennens, adapted primarily from the King James Bible.
Handel was known to be an efficient composer, turning out entire operas in just a month’s time for example, but it is still impressive to consider that he composed ‘Messiah’ - a nearly 2 hour work in its entirety - in just 3 and a half weeks. He received the libretto in mid July, began composing the music on August 22nd, and finished on September 14th.
‘Messiah’ was premiered in 1742 in Dublin, Ireland as a fundraiser for Prisoner’s Debt Relief. It sold like a house on fire, with reports of requests being made of men to remove their swords and women not to wear hoops in their skirts in order to accommodate more attendees. Ticket revenue resulted in the paying off of debt and subsequent release of 142 prisoners, plus significant contributions to Mercer’s Hospital and Charitable Infirmary.
"Why Do the Nations Rage" is an aria for bass and orchestra with text taken from Psalm 2.
Why do the nations
So furiously rage together
Why do the people
Imagine a vain thing
The kings of the earth rise up
And the rulers take counsel together
Against the Lord
And against His anointed
"Let Us Break Their Bonds Asunder" is a response to this aria, for chorus and orchestra with text also taken from Psalm 2.
Let us break their bonds asunder,
and cast away their yokes from us.
A typical performance lasts just under 5 minutes.
Resources:
Franz Josef Haydn
Mass in time of war
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Franz Josef Haydn (1732-1809) was an Austrian composer Classical era. He composed an astonishing number of works in his lifetime and is credited with templating the symphony and the string quartet musical forms despite being primarily self taught as a composer. For 'fathering' the symphony and the string quartet forms he is nicknamed "Papa". Frankie Joe "Papa" Haydn also wrote 14 masses, of which Mass In A Time of War is the 10th. His works and his style are known for their beauty, vitality, and humor.
HIGHLIGHTS
Haydn was the son of a wheelwright and market manager, and was born in a rural Austrian village. His parents saw his musical talent at an early age and sent him away to study voice and keyboard at the age of seven. He never lived at home with them again!
Haydn received almost no composition training, instead learning by observation and reading music theory textbooks. He spent much of his youth in poverty, freelancing as a performing musician until the age of 25 when he was offered a music director position by wealthy aristocrat Count Morzin. Here he was able to delve into composing as part of his responsibilities. In 1761 the Count fell on hard times and had to let Haydn go. He was immediately snapped up by the even more wealthy and powerful Prince Nikolaus of the Esterházy family.
Prince Nikolaus was a huge supporter of the arts and kept Haydn very busy composing for all sorts of occasions, leading the orchestra and chamber ensembles, and managing the musician staff. He also had a very strict contract which essentially owned Haydn and all of Haydn's work. Excerpt: "The said Haydn shall be under obligation to compose such music as his Serene Highness may command, and neither to communicate such compositions to any other person, nor to allow them to be copied, but he shall retain them for the absolute use of his Highness, and not compose for any other person without the knowledge and permission of his Highness." Not so different to today's major record labels... just ask The Artist Formerly Known As Prince!
It was a good job with decent pay, but because of the restrictive contract, Haydn was unable to travel away from his relatively remote Hungarian palace workplace in order to fully take advantage of being Europe's leading composer. This all changed in 1790 when Anton, son of Nikolaus, became Prince and DOGEd the music staff to cut costs. Prince Anton kept Haydn as a part time employee which came with a big pay cut but it also allowed substantially more freedom in his contract for owning, publishing, and promoting his own work as well as traveling to perform it.
This is how he ended up in London where he was invited to stay for a while, composing and performing. A review of Haydn's first in-person London performance says "Haydn himself presided at the piano-forte; and the sight of that renowned composer so electrified the audience, as to excite an attention and a pleasure superior to any that had ever been caused by instrumental music in England.” He was basically the Beyoncé or Taylor Swift of his day. 😎🤘🏽
Haydn composed Mass In Time of War in 1796 during the period following the French Revolution when Napoleon was waging war in Europe and the troops were struggling to keep him from invading Austria.
Haydn was commissioned by the Esterhazy family to compose this mass, and several others, for a special occasion. Other than the title that Haydn gave it in the autograph manuscript there is no overt anti-war message in the text. However there is an uncharacteristically unsettled mood that reveals itself periodically, especially with the use of the timpani.
The timpani part is so aggressive and militaristic at times that the piece has taken on a nickname or subtitle of "Paukenmesse" or Timpani Mass. There are hints of this right away in the slower introductory material of the Kyrie, and then revealed in full during the Benedictus and Agnus Dei movements toward the end of the piece. There is also a very tender extended cello solo in the 'Qui tollis' portion of the Gloria movement which offers some lightness to exist.
Haydn scored the mass for a large orchestra, chorus, and 4 vocal soloists: soprano, alto, tenor, and bass.
A typical performance lasts about 40 minutes.
Resources:
Missy Mazzoli
these worlds in us
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Missy Mazzoli (1980- ) is an acclaimed and highly successful composer from the U.S. who is known for her operas, as well as her orchestra and chamber music works. She has been commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera and Opera Philadelphia, served as composer in residence with the Chicago Symphony, and is currently professor of composition at Bard College.
About the Music:
Mazzoli composed These Worlds in Us in 2006. It was premiered in 2007 and nominated for an ASCAP award that same year.
The inspiration came from her father who served in Vietnam and she took the title from a James Tate poem called "The Lost Pilot".
Mazzoli writes:
"This piece is dedicated to my father, who was a soldier during the Vietnam War. In talking to him it occurred to me that, as we grow older, we accumulate worlds of intense memory within us, and that grief is often not far from joy. I like the idea that music can reflect painful and blissful sentiments in a single note or gesture, and sought to create a sound palette that I hope is at once completely new and strangely familiar to the listener.
The theme of this work, a mournful line first played by the violins, collapses into glissandos almost immediately after it appears, giving the impression that the piece has been submerged under water or played on a turntable that is grinding to a halt. The melodicas (mouth organs) played by the percussionists in the opening and final gestures mimic the wheeze of a broken accordion, lending a particular vulnerability to the bookends of the work. The rhythmic structures and cyclical nature of the piece are inspired by the unique tension and logic of Balinese music, and the march-like figures in the percussion bring to mind the militaristic inspiration for the work as well as the relentless energy of electronica drum beats."
These Worlds in Us is scored for full orchestra, including the use of melodica which brings an otherworldly sensibility to the piece.
A typical performance lasts about 9 minutes.
Learn a little more about These Worlds in Us directly from the composer in the short video below.
Resources:
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Dona Nobis Pacem
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Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) was an English composer who had an enormous output in multiple genres during his compositional career. Vaughan Williams composed operas, ballets, chamber music, vocal works, and most notably nine symphonies. He is widely credited for creating a uniquely British classical music style apart from the stronghold of traditional German style music of the 19th century in part by leaning heavily on the use of English folk and folk-like tunes.
Highlights:
Vaughan Williams was raised in a socially progressive family with well developed views on morality. As a result he placed service to community at the center of his personal mission, including making music as accessible as possible to every person.
Vaughan Williams served in the army during the first World War and was deeply emotionally affected by that experience, finding it difficult to compose music for a time afterward.
During his later compositions, particularly in the 1930s, his music turned toward a darker disposition and he experienced another crisis of creative block as the second World War and the rise of fascism loomed.
Vaughan Williams composed his anti-war cantata Dona Nobis Pacem in 1936 during this difficult time. He didn't finish another large work until 5 years later with his fifth symphony.
Dona Nobis Pacem is scored for full orchestra, organ, chorus, and two vocal soloists: soprano and baritone.
Vaughan Williams pulled text from multiple sources: the Catholic mass, 3 poems of Walt Whitman, a political speech about the Crimean war by John Bright, and several quotes from the Old Testament of the Christian bible.
Vaughan Williams constructed the work in 6 sections that each flow into the next.
Agnus Dei - Using Latin text from the Catholic mass the soprano soloist introduces the first of many pleadings for peace "Dona Nobis Pacem" that return throughout the work.
Beat! Beat! Drums! - This movement is based on a Walt Whitman poem.
Reconciliation - This movement uses the only fully quoted Whitman poem:
Word over all, beautiful as the sky,
Beautiful that war and all its deeds of carnage must in time be utterly lost,
That the hands of the sisters Death and Night incessantly softly wash again
and ever again, this soiled world;
For my enemy is dead, a man divine as myself is dead,
I look where he lies white-faced and still in the coffin - I draw near,
Bend down and touch lightly with my lips the white face in the coffin.
Dirge for Two Veterans - This movement uses a substantial amount of the Whitman poem and the music begins to turn hopeful that at least some lessons have been learned about violence and aggression against each other.
V - This movement is only indicated with a Roman numeral. The text of John Bright's speech is introduced by the baritone soloist: The Angel of Death has been abroad throughout the land; you may almost hear the beating of his wings. There is no one as of old . . . to sprinkle with blood the lintel and the two side-posts of our doors, that he may spare and pass on. The music in this moment is dark and a bit creepy. It's halting and lacks flow but rather sits in harmonies that allow for contemplation.
VI - This movement is also untitled and indicated with Roman numeral. It begins with the orchestra alone, introducing a more optimistic soundscape which takes us into a very hopeful intoning of various Old Testament Christian bible texts, beginning with "O man, greatly beloved, fear not!" and continuing through to a final pleading for peace from the a cappella chorus and soprano soloist "Dona Nobis Pacem".
A typical performance of Dona Nobis Pacem lasts about 40 minutes.
Resources:
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