Michael Haydn was court composer and Konzertmeister to the Salzburg court from 1763 for 43 years. His Missa in honorem Sanctae Ursulae was intended for the convent service at which his friend Ursula Oswald would take her final vows. Much of his music is yet to be published and this is a rare opportunity to hear one of his finest works.
Josef Haydn’s Missa in Angustiis – literally ‘Mass in Straitened Times’ -, better known as the Nelson Mass, is the only one of the composer’s masses in a minor key. Along with the fanfares in the work this reflects the political upheaval in Europe at the time. It was described by Haydn’s biographer, H. C. Robbins-Landon, as ‘arguably Haydn’s greatest single composition’.
more about Collegium Laureatum
Collegium Laureatum (Society of Graduates) was founded in 1974 by Don Neville as an informal madrigal group of graduate students, fellows and friends of Corpus Christi College. Despite the fact that the choir has largely become town rather than gown, this distinctive name has been retained.