Saturday 12th June 2010

7.30 pm
Trinity Methodist Church
Cottingham Road, Hull
(at the corner of Newland Avenue)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Litany in E flat major K243

This is the last of Mozart’s four settings of the Litany, written at Salzburg in 1776 when the young genius was just twenty years old. Like all litanies its text consists of a series of petitions addressed to a particular being, or an element of the Deity. Its original title of Litaniae de venerabili altaris sacremento indicates that this was the Holy Sacrament. A series of petitions would not appear at first sight to offer a composer much opportunity to shine, but Mozart divides the text into ten short movements of immense variety. Two of these are brilliant vocal concertos in a style similar to the well-known Exultate Jubilate. Other movements are of tender simplicity. And there are elaborate fugal as well as dramatic choruses, usually including a solo quartet. The orchestration glows with the sound of horns and woodwind, and the string-writing is, as ever in Mozart, a delight.

Joseph Haydn

Theresa Mass

The Theresa Mass is the fourth of the six settings of the mass written in Haydn’s last years. It was composed in 1799, one year after the well-known Nelson Mass, which we performed two years ago. It has a grander sound even than that work, because to the trumpets, strings and organ of the Nelson Haydn added clarinets and bassoons. As in that work, the solo soprano dominates the solo music, which is, however, shared with other members of Haydn’s usual vocal quartet. The choral writing is grand and dramatic, as one would expect from someone who had just completed The Creation. These works have not been heard in Hull for many years. Do not miss the opportunity to hear them.