Missa brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo

History#

Haydn composed four or five short masses, depending on the Missa brevis Rorate coeli desuper being composed by him or not. The Missa brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo is his last . All these short masses share a modest orchestra. Haydn lived in Eisenstadt, working for the court of Nikolaus II, Prince Esterházy. The composition was written in 1774. Because of an extensive organ solo in the Benedictus, it is known as the (Little Organ Mass), in the hospital chapel of the Brethren in Eisenstadt. “Kleine” (little) may refer to the organ as well as to the composition, because the instrument there was a positive with six stops without pedal.

Scoring and structure#

The setting of the Latin mass is structured in six movements. It was originally scored for a solo soprano, a four-part choir (SATB), the so-called (Vienna church trio) of two violins and bass, with an organ which has a solo function in the Benedictus. In the following table of the movements, the voices, markings, keys and time signatures are taken from the choral score.

Music#

The movements Gloria and Credo are kept extremely short by the technique of (polytextual music: “several clauses of the text are set simultaneously in different voices.”) The Benedictus is the only movement which is not in B-flat major, and set for a solo voice.

Kyrie#

The Kyrie shows, according to the musicologist John Hsu “brilliant instrumental idioms and choral declamation.

Credo#

The Credo is structured in three parts, the center being formed by an Adagio for the birth, suffering and death of Jesus, delivered by the choir mostly in homophony, accompanied by broken chords in the violins and repetition in the bass. The third section recapitulates music from the Gloria.

Sanctus#

Sanctus is called by the voices in a fast sequence of entries, some as bell-like long notes, other in flowing triplets. For the Osanna, the voices enter from the lowest to the highest, only one measure apart. The instruments play colla parte with the voices, violins with soprano and alto, cello and violone with the bass.

Benedictus#

The Benedictus, the longest movement, is a dialogue of soprano soloist and organ, described as “expressive, elegant, and ornate melodic lines”. It is followed by a repeat of the Osanna.

Agnus Dei#

Haydn marked the Agnus Dei carefully for dramatic contrast in dynamics, setting “Agnus Dei” (Lamb of God) as a fortissimo homophonic call versus a pianissimo prayer “Dona nobis pacem” (Give us peace). The end is marked “perdendosi, senza organo” (dying away, without organ), with a pizzicato bass. A reviewer of the Oxford edition summarized: “The work is accessible to most choirs. The music is not excessively difficult, but the solid musical structure and the many passages requiring expressive singing make the work a rewarding pleasure for any size choir. Renowned Haydn specialist H. C. Robbins Landon, who edited a modern edition of the mass (published by Henle-Verlag in 1958), ascribed to the work a “quiet spirit of devotion, even of mysticism, that is most appealing”.

Versions#

While the mass was originally scored for choir, strings and organ, later versions include with trumpets and timpani, and clarinets. Johann Georg Albrechtsberger wrote an alternate Benedictus.

External links#

• • • Jones, Jill Ann: “A Historical Study of Joseph Haydn’s Missa brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo Hob XXII:7” San Jose State University 1994