Hastings Philharmonic Choir in rehearsal earlier this year (photo: Peter Mould).

Vivaldi  and Haydn works headline at Hastings Philharmonic Choir’s November concert

Religious works by Vivaldi and Haydn are the highlights of Hastings Philharmonic Choir’s November concert. Both are masterpieces, says Gareth Simpson. Accompanying the choir will be Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra.

Hastings Philharmonic Choir will perform two masterpieces at its autumn concert on 9 November: one baroque, Vivaldi’s Gloria, the other classical, Haydn’s Nelson Mass (Missa in Angustiis), accompanied by the Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra. The orchestra will also perform Handel’s Oboe Concerto in G Minor.

The concert will be conducted by Hastings Philharmonic’s highly respected musical director, Marcio da Silva. The soloists are Hollie-Anne Clark (soprano), Nathan Mercieca (alto), Leonel Pinheiro (tenor) and Jack Lawrence-Jones (bass).

Although recognised during his lifetime as one of the most innovative, influential and prolific of baroque composers, having composed over 600 concerti and many vocal works, Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) slipped into obscurity after his death until his music was revived in the mid-twentieth century.

The Gloria in D, RV589, is one of three Gloria settings made by Vivaldi, of which only two survive. It had its first modern performance, in a version prepared by Alfredo Casella, during Vivaldi Week in Siena in 1939.  Since then, its rhythmic drive, sparkling orchestration and an expressive range encompassing both joyful choral writing and lyrical, tender solo passages, have ensured its continuing popularity with choirs and audiences alike.

The Austrian composer Franz Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) is perhaps best known for the significant role that he played in the development of the string quartet and the symphony. He also composed very fine choral music, such that the Missa in Angustiis (Mass for Troubled Times) is regarded by some as his greatest single composition.

Written in 1798, it is one of six late masses by Haydn. What the composer did not know when he wrote the mass, but what he and his audience heard (perhaps on 15 September, the day of the very first performance), was that on 1 August, Napoleon had been dealt a stunning defeat in the Battle of the Nile by British forces led by Admiral Horatio Nelson. Because of this coincidence, the mass gradually acquired the nickname ‘Nelson’ Mass.

Vivaldi Gloria and Haydn Missa in Angustiis: Hastings Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra Christ Church, Silchester Road, St Leonards-on-Sea TN37 6GL, Saturday 9 November at 7pm. Tickets via the choir’s website or from The Bookkeeper, 1A Kings Road, St Leonards TN37 6EA, priced at £22.50/£18/£13.50, students, under 18s, jobseekers and universal credit recipients £5.50/free.

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