Joseph Haydn Missa in angustiis in D minor, Hob. XXII:11 'Nelson Mass'
Paul Wranitzky Symphony in C minor, Op. 31 'Grande Symphonie caractéristique for the Peace with the French Republic'
As we enjoy musical creations of the past today, we can also reflect on the threatening times in which some of them were written. Let us listen and, in our once again war-torn times, hopefully learn from history. In the wake of the French Revolution, the world order had been thrown into turmoil by the wars of the monarchies against Napoleon’s France until the victory of the Allies. Together with the singer and conductor Lionel Meunier and his choir Vox Luminis, CAMERATA reflects the political upheavals of that era with works that directly referred to these events. Haydn’s Mass in D minor, composed during the “distress” of the British-French naval war, received its nickname after the British admiral Horatio Nelson, who was victorious in the naval Battle of Aboukir.
Afterwards, CAMERATA lets a contemporary witness report on the events in music: the Bohemian-born composer Paul Wranitzky, a contemporary of Mozart and Beethoven who worked in Vienna, celebrated the peace treaty between the Allies and France in 1797 in one of his 45 magnificent symphonies.
