Michael Haydn, like his elder brother Joseph Haydn, was a chorister at St Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna, and became a substitute organist by age twelve.
Recording & Production
This recording was generously supported by the Fraternity of the Friends of St Albans Abbey, St Albans Cathedral Music Trust, Anna and Freddie Klemming, and Anna McCrum and David Entwistle.
Compositional Technique
Michael Haydn's liturgical music shows a broad stylistic range, from a florid Neapolitan style to the austere contrapuntal stile antico tradition of Palestrina.
Composer Biography
Michael Haydn was an influential teacher whose pupils in the 1790s included the composers Carl Maria von Weber and Anton Diabelli.
Composition History
The Missa Sancti Nicolai Tolentini, Michael Haydn's first large-scale sacred work, was written in 1768 for the Augustinian fathers in Salzburg's Mülln neighborhood.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Michael Haydn's sacred music, which includes over 40 mass settings, was considered superior to his brother Joseph Haydn's by the author and critic E.T.A. Hoffmann.
Historical Context
Archbishop Hieronymus von Colloredo's liturgical reforms, influenced by Enlightenment ideas, led to a ban on excessive ornateness and the closure of the Benedictine University Theatre.
