Creation Mass

Joseph Haydn’s Missa in Bb with the nickname "Creation Mass," the fifth of his six late Missae solemnes, was composed in 1801 within only six weeks. Like all his great masses, he composed also this mass on behalf of his employer, Prince Nicholas II Esterházy, for the name day of the prince’s wife. The nickname "Creation Mass" – referring to Haydn’s oratorio The Creation, first performed three years earlier – is not authentic, but is based on a quotation in the Gloria from the duet "Holde Gattin, dir zu Seite." The Mass shows Haydn at the height of his compositional development; it is largely thoroughly composed, the vocal quartet increasingly takes the place of arien-like passages, the motivic-thematic work determines both the vocal and the independent instrumental parts.