The Handel &, Haydn Society coupled the Requiem Mass settings of Michael Haydn ( 1737-1806 ), MH 155 with Mozart’s K. 626 at Symphony Hall last weekend to open its 210th season. Though Michael Hayd n’s music today is not as celebrated or frequently played as that of his elder brother, Josef ( the second namesake of the performing ensemble ), nevertheless, Michael’s requiem impressed Mozart enough to take it as a model for his own. As both artists spent some years in Salzburg, they collaborated a number of days, e. g., both Wolfgang and his father Leopold performed in the 1772 premiere of Hayd n’s ballad, written for the death of Archbishop Schrattenbach of Salzburg. 19 years afterward, Mozart was so inspired by it that he used it as a model for his own building. H+H’s sophisticated programming allowed the huge audience to hear both motets continuously. The Handel + Haydn song and orchestra, conducted by Artistic Director Jonathan Cohen, welcomed four performers: singer Lucy Crowe, mezzo-soprano Beth Taylor, tone Duke Kim, and bass-baritone Brandon Cedel.
The two cases were similar from the beginning: the chords in the Introit meetings had more motion (eighth information ) in the bass supporting sustained upper voices, the choral pieces each entered separately, starting with the bass and moving forward, brass punctuated the string texture, and the chorus sang in rhythmic unison for more drama at key items, etc. Cohen and his musicians subtly raised Hayd n’s string of suspensions in both the orchestra and the chorus. The players always paid attention to balances, such as when the song was the target was still on the faster-moving violins following Exaudi’s orationem meam. A Picardy next offered an unexpected ray of light at the last Kyrie Eleison ( even though it was the first of many ).
Handel followed earlier composers in certainly visually capturing the horrors of the Dies irae, but the movement had plenty of drama. Hadn these alternated effectively between the larger chorus and the quartet’s more substantial solos, which the quartet members who stood out as a whole, and gave more considerable solos. A specially eye-catching highlight was the juxtaposition of the vocal Amen‘s imitation writing and the quartet’s Dona eis nocturne.
Call-and-response writing was featured in the Domine Jesu Christe meditation, which included single tenor Kim and song as well as single bass Cedel and the single quartet. A notable exception to this occurred at de profundo lacu ( from the bottomless pit ), which featured a descending sequence of daring harmonies in chorus and orchestra, despite Hayd n’s largely eschewed word-painting. Cohen and the H+H players kept the counterpoint evident and the consistency spacious throughout the section’s conclusion with an enthusiastic fugue. Hostias et preces was delivered by Solo micro Taylor, who then joined Kim and Cedel in an emotional song. The movement was abruptly ended by a loud musical fugue that had formerly been heard.
Though exclamatory, Hayd n’s Sanctus diverged from other composers ‘ settings in its florid accompaniment—still more so in the Benedictus—while the two Hosannas began gently with the solo quartet before unleashing the excitement of the full chorus. Crowe, Cedel, and Kim gave the Lamb of God sweetly humble personal addresses in the third verse of Agnus Dei, which was followed immediately by the chorus’s full chorus,” Give them eternal sleep.” Before the other soloists joined her, Taylor tenderly handled the chromatically rising phrase of Lux aeterna ( possibly another instance of Hayd n’s rare word-painting ). In another parallel with Mozart, Haydn adapted the style of” And with his bands” from Handel’s Messiah, with its dramatic reduced sixth, for the chorus area of Cum sanctis tuis. The mixture of quasi-legato diction, well-judged balances, and quick intensity made this a great point of the requiem. The solo quartet recited the seminal poem Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis ( Grant them eternal rest, Lord, and may light perpetual shine on them ) in a beseeching echo of the opening movement. The ballad finally came to an end with aclimactic follow of the Cum sanctis tuis chorus.
For Mozart’s requiem, Cohen opted for the execution by Robert Levin, the known piano and Mozart professor ( who was in the market ) rather than the more traditional but far from ideal execution by Mozart’s scholar Franz Süssmayr. By switching from Michael Hayd n’s clarinets to basset horns, which are similar but have a lower range and more veiled tone, the composer improved the dark and troubled D minor of the orchestral introduction to his Introit. Cohen avoided any mournful impact by creating a somber intensity that was still moving. The action comes to a close with Mozart’s own version of Hayd n’s” And with his colors we are healed” version of the same Handel choir. Mozart’s version makes greater demands on the chorus ( 16th-note melismas as opposed to Hayd n’s 8th-notes ), but the singers gave us exemplary clarity and, with the orchestra, built excitement with chromatic rising sequences near the end, concluding dramatically on bare fifths.
Mozart’s Dies irae may help to prepare the audience for the requiem’s Romance settings, but it also provides a more serious account of the day of fury, the orchestra’s precision as it performed its angry accompaniment, and the musical exclamations that moved in block chords to convey purposeful punishment rather than general chaos. Also, Mozart had a freer hands for word-painting than his father: the bass section’s accented half-step changes at Quantus tremor est futurus ( What a trembling there will be ), reinforced by timpani and lower tools, suggested an earthquake as much as body trembling. Bass-baritone Cedel had the necessary resonance in his bass notes because Mozart required him to jump between high and low registers in this effective Tuba mirum spargens sonum ( the program did not indicate a principal player ). Cohen’s double-dotted rhythms in chorus and orchestra at Rex tremendae majestatis ( King of tremendous majesty ) evoked royalty and made a sharper comparison to the final woeful plea for salvation. The four soloists made a beguiling appeal in the Recordare, individually and collectively, with notable expressivity at “may such great effort not be in vain”. In Confutatis maledictis, the tenors and basses made powerful pronouncements about the consignment of the accursed to hellfire that stood in stark contrast to the sopranos and altos ‘ meek beseeching to be called among the blessed. Still another study in contrasts, the Lacrimosa alternated between light and darkness, hope and mourning, power and supplication. A fugal chorus ( Amen ) in unconventional triple time, created by Levin based on a sketch left by the composer, was the closing song.
Unlike Hayd n’s setting, Mozart’s Sanctus featured the more standard expansiveness and major-mode celebration, in the whirling, triple-time Hosanna, the crisp, clean execution of chorus and orchestra left one exhilarated. Using turbulent, chromatic accompaniment, the composer’s three addresses to the Lamb of God were more urgently imploring than the humble prayers previously heard, yet these alternated with gentle requests (” Grant them rest perpetual” ) and expressive woodwind interludes. Before the chorus took over, Crowe’s final dazzling solo” May light perpetual shine on them” in B flat major, setting the stage for the finale fugue, using the Handel subject again but with a different text ( Cum sanctis tuis ). The final chord’s perfectly tuned bare fifths ended, as before, with a very dramatic and stark effect.
I’m particularly appreciative of the Handel &, Haydn Society for presenting a nearly forgotten (undeserved ) work by the younger Haydn alongside the Mozart masterpiece it audibly influenced. This concert provided a feast of music and a fascinating lesson in music history that was delivered in a top-notch performance.