Past Performances

The Cantabile Singers present Joseph Haydn’s Missa In Angustiis (Lord Nelson Mass), featuring soloists Emily Murdock (soprano), Laura Williams (mezzo-soprano), Yang Bo (tenor) and Wu Wei (bass).

Friday, February 20th, 2009, 7:30 pm
Sunday, February 22nd, 2009, 4:00 pm
Mountain View Methodist Church
355 Ponca Place, Boulder, Colorado

Tickets:

Adult: $15, Senior: $12, Student: $10
Tickets sold at the door.

About the Mass

A country at war. Fear of terrorism. Economic disaster. Resentment of leaders. Social discontentment. Austrians exactly 210 years ago would have lamented their days in these terms over mugs of coffee with their neighbors. They would have cursed the war with Napoleon, feared his army’s guerrilla tactics, felt the pinch of restricted international trade, resented the despotic rule of France, and wished ardently for change. Not so very unlike our own troubled times.

Austrian Joseph Haydn captured the uncertain summer of 1798 in his Missa in Angustiis—Mass for Troubled Times (also known as the Lord Nelson Mass). Boulder’s Cantabile Singers performs the mass in the tenuous spring of 2009. The mass is chilling and yet uplifting, powerful yet delicate, on the verge of despair and yet infused with hope. Its ups and downs provide the soundtrack of our era.

The first movement opens with a booming, crimson-colored plea for mercy—Kyrie Eleison. We have gone to war in the Middle East. The banks foreclose on the first homes. The second movement proclaims Gloria and reminds us that there is still beauty in the world. Michael Phelps wins eight Olympic gold medals for America, setting a world record. The third movement, the Credo, cautions us to be humble. What has been given to us can be taken away—jobs, health, wealth, even our lives. But Haydn again gives us hope in the possibility for rebirth and renewal. Gas prices fall and America defies historical expectations by electing an African American president—Hosanna in Excelsis. In the final movement, the Agnus Dei, Haydn recognizes that troubles are far from over. America’s three major car manufacturers have asked for a governmental bailout and foreclosures and layoffs will return with the end of the holiday season. But we can all close our eyes as the mass ends and wish with all our hearts for peace—Dona Nobis Pacem.

Kristen Jorden, The Cantabile Singers