TEXARKANA, Texas - Sacred Heart Catholic Church will host a performance of Joseph Haydn's "Nelson Mass," one of the composer's great liturgical accomplishments, on Thursday, May 13.
Starting at 6 p.m., Haydn's work will be performed by a choir, vocal soloists and orchestra as part of an extraordinary form Latin mass, says Marc-Andre Bougie, music director at the Texas-side church.
The public is invited to attend this service and hear one of Haydn's most admired works performed. After about a year of COVID-19 limitations, this is one of the first bigger events at the church open to the larger community, Bougie said.
The mass will also celebrate the 15th anniversary of priesthood ordination for Father Michael Adams, who has retired as pastor at the parish and now serves as pastor emeritus. The new pastor is Father Justin Braun.
"The music will be played as it would have been back in the 18th, 19th century, when the religious service was happening and the music was used as the music for the service, the liturgical music," Bougie said, noting the composer lived a long time.
"He had a long time to write a lot of music and have quite an impact on music history," Bougie said. "He wrote a lot of religious music, especially for Catholic liturgy, being of that faith and working for patrons who also needed music for the religious ceremony," Bougie said.
Haydn wrote six great masses, which Bougie calls probably the greatest of his liturgical accomplishments, at the end of his career. The most famous is the "Nelson Mass," which, as written in the late 18th century, refers to a naval victory by Lord Horatio Nelson.
Haydn's work totals about 40 minutes, making it pretty intense, said Bougie. "Most folks, if they've heard or seen a performance of a Haydn mass, it was probably within the context of a concert," he said. That's how it's often presented now.
But they'll perform it according to the original intent within the religious ceremony, Bougie said, noting because we're still affected by COVID they'll have about 16 singers, including four soloists, and 10 instrumentalists.
"We will be performing from the choir loft, so we will not be in plain view of the audience, the congregants, who will be downstairs," Bougie said, noting Sacred Heart, which is more traditionally designed this way, has a choir loft. It's not big, but back in the days of Mozart and Haydn the lofts were not much larger, he said.
"What we're doing actually is pretty close to what a performance of such a piece might have been in a church 200 years or so ago, in terms of the performing forces," Bougie said, noting that this mass was Haydn's only one in a minor key, D minor.
"So it's very dramatic throughout," Bougie said. "I'm going to go ahead and say probably his most dramatic piece of liturgical music, because of the key but also just the size of it, the scope, which is one of his longest masses."
Haydn was a fully mature composer at this time, and this was his last testament to the canon of the mass genre, said the music director.
"Many, many commentators say that's probably his most dramatic, interesting, fulfilling mass," Bougie said.
Soloists include soprano Candace Taylor of Texarkana and three out-of-town singers: mezzo-soprano Erin Roth Thomas, tenor Ryan McDonald, baritone Spencer Reichman.
As to the mass, there's a solemnity and simplicity to it, Bougie said. He describes it as majestic.
"When people go to a traditional Latin mass like this, what will probably surprise people is how much of the mass itself - the speaking of the priest - is quiet," Bougie said. "Most of the prayers are set in what is called in secret, which means quietly, softly. A lot of the event is actually the music playing as the priest and the servers are doing liturgical action on the altar."
(Sacred Heart Catholic Church is located at 4505 Elizabeth St. in Texarkana, Texas. For more information, call 903-794-4444.)