Oxford Harmonic Choir has made a splendid choice of two contrasting works for its autumn concert: one a magnificent and well-loved staple of the choral repertoire and one a delightful but less well-known work: Mozart’s Requiem and Hummel’s Mass in B flat.
Mozart was composing his great work in 1791 at what proved to be the end of his career, and, as is well known, it was finished after his premature death by Franz Süssmayr. With all Mozart’s experience in opera behind it, especially the drama of Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute, it is full of majesty and power: (the key is D minor, the same as the overture to Don Giovanni). The mood moves between the sombre, as in the three wonderful opening numbers – the Requiem aeternam, Kyrie and Dies irae (these were the most finished of Mozart’s movements) – and flashes of serene and consolatory lyricism. It is a substantial piece, taking about 50 minutes to perform (depending on the conductor’s style; it is now often done faster than in the past) with many sections for the choir and for the four soloists.
In contrast, Hummel wrote his mass towards the beginning of his career, when he had been appointed Konzertmeister to the Esterházy family at Eisenstadt in1804, while Haydn retained the title of Kapellmeister. (The exact date is uncertain: the editor of the OUP edition suggests that it could have been in 1805, when Hummel apparently conducted a performance of a mass in B flat in the Eisenstadt parish church, although the autograph score is dated 10 November 1810.) Haydn had written his last six great masses for Prince Nikolaus Esterházy, who commissioned them to celebrate his wife’s name day, and Hummel followed in his footsteps, writing five masses in all. (Though not all specifically composed for these annual celebrations, they seem to have been given performances in the annual ritual at a later date.) Like Haydn’s masses, the Mass in B flat is upbeat in mood, with some lively movements in the Gloria and Credo and some wonderful melodies, especially in the beautiful Benedictus, as well as a lovely quiet finish to the Agnus Dei. It is a short work of approximately 35 minutes, written for chorus only.
Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837) was very famous in his own day, especially for his piano music, and admired by, among others, Berlioz, Chopin and Schumann. In the later nineteenth century, however, he fell out of favour, nor was he included in the early twentieth-century Classical music revival. His work is having something of a renaissance today – there are many CDs of his music available to buy – but he is still not a household name. His trumpet concerto is probably his best-known piece of music. He was born in Pressburg (now Bratislava), the son of a violinist and music teacher, who was to become music director at a theatre in Vienna. Like Mozart, he was a child prodigy, and, at the age of eight, he became a pupil of Mozart, living in his house until 1788, when he embarked on a tour with his father which lasted for five years. During this period, on a trip to London, he met up with Haydn, who was to help him obtain his position at Eisenstadt. Hummel also got to know Beethoven when he was living in Vienna in the 1790s; their relationship was apparently stormy but endured until Beethoven’s death. Unlike Mozart, Hummel had an excellent business sense: he was on good terms with his publishers and led the fight to establish copyright protection for composers in Germany and Austria. His final appointment from 1818 to 1835 was as grand-ducal Kapellmeister in Weimar, where he became a friend of Goethe and something of a celebrity: ‘It was said that without seeing Goethe and hearing Hummel play, no visit to the town was complete’ (New Grove Dictionary of Music).
All Hummel’s masses are available to buy. There is an excellent recording of the Mass in B flat in a three-disc series of his masses by Chandos Early Music conducted by Richard Hickox with the Collegium Musicum. There are also a number of versions available on YouTube.
Oxford Harmonic Choir has performed Mozart’s Requiem twelve times between 1931 and 2019, while Hummel’s Mass in B flat is receiving its debut performance by the choir on 29 November 2026 in the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford. A splendid pairing indeed – not to be missed!
Joanna Parker
