Haydn Michael: Requiem & Missa Sancti Hieronymi

Under the direction of its conductor Matthew Martin, the choir of Gonville & Caius College Cambridge, together with the Academy of Ancient Music, will perform rarely heard masterpieces by Michael Haydn: the Requiem and the Missa Sancti Hieronymi. The four soloists are all former students of the Caius Choir, which underlines the outstanding musical tradition of this student group. Joseph Haydn's unjustly little-known younger brother was himself a talented composer. The deeply emotional Requiem, which he wrote after the death of his young daughter and his patron, is a masterpiece that combines complex colorful textures and forms with imaginative orchestration and vocal music. Mozart was a great admirer, and it is thought that Haydn's Requiem was the prototype for Mozart's own, better-known masterpiece. In contrast, the later Missa Sancti Hieronymi is brighter and more optimistic. Unusually scored for oboes, bassoons, trombones and continuo (without upper strings), it radiates transparency and joyful energy. This recording will certainly help to bring these neglected works back into the repertoire.