Within approximately six weeks Haydn, in 1801, composed his “Creation Mass” as the fifth of altogether six late missae solemnes commissioned by his employer, Prince Nikolaus II. Esterházy. The sobriquet “Creation Mass” is not authentic, but it is probably based on the quotation in the Gloria taken from the oratorio “Die Schöpfung.

The Mass in B flat major by Joseph Haydn is known under the name “Theresienmesse.” The reason for this epithet has to this day not been clarified, but it could have to do with a performance of another Mass in Vienna in May 1800, probably in the presence of the Empress Marie Therese. Compared with […]