Missa Sancti Cyrilli et Methodii

The thirty or so settings of the Mass by Johann Michael Haydn (Joseph’s younger brother) are masterpieces of their class, and were greatly loved during his lifetime. In his sacred music Haydn succeeds in creating a synthesisof counterpoint and song-like melodies, which shows the influence of Gregorian chant and indigenous folk music. With the Missa Sancti Cyrilli et Methodii dedicated to the Slavic apostles Cyrill and Methodius it is possible that Haydn applied for a position in Brno and it actually appears as if the 21-year-old composer wanted to present a masterpiece demonstrating his skills. The mass of 1758 is an early work, still written in the baroque stylistic tradition of the southern German region; it also reveals subjective inspiration which separates it from many mass settings by Haydn‘s contemporaries. The composition is a cantata mass; the sections of the ordinary are divided into individual movements which interpret the text using a variety of instrumentations and compositional techniques aimed at contrast and diversity.

As part of its Urtext complete edition Carus has published the mass for the first time.