Thomas Tallis Society Choir & Orchestra - Haydn Nelson Mass, Haydn Te Deum, Mozart Ave Verum Corpus

The summer of 1798 was a terrifying time for Austria, and when Haydn finished this mass, his own title, in the catalogue of his works, was Missa in angustiis (Mass for troubled times).

What Haydn did not know when he wrote the mass, but what he and his audience heard (perhaps on September 15, the day of the very first performance), was that on 1 August, the French Navy had been dealt a crushing defeat at the Battle of the Nile by a British fleet under Rear-Admiral Horatio Nelson.

Because of this coincidence, the mass gradually acquired the nickname Nelson Mass.

The title became indelible when, in 1800, Nelson himself visited the Palais Esterhzy accompanied by his mistress Emma, Lady Hamilton, and may have heard the mass conducted by Haydn whom he would meet shortly afterwards.