Mass No. 8, in C (Mariazeller)
Kyrie. Gloria. Credo. Sanctus.
Benedictus. Agnus Dei
Margaret Godley (soprano)
Bradbridge White (tenor)
The BBC Chorus (Section B)
A Section of the London
Symphony Orchestra
Leader, W. H. Reed
Conducted by Leslie Woodgate
The Missa Cellensis or Mariazeller-Messe, the most popular of Haydn's masses, composed in 1782, was commissioned by an Austrian official, Liebe von Kreutzner, for the monastery of Mariazell in Styria. Mariazell was for many years one of the most frequented places of pilgrimage in Austria, the object of adoration being an image of the Madonna and Child presented to the monastery in 1157, and Haydn himself had visited the shrine as a youth of eighteen in 1750. He is said to have taken special care with the composition of this Mass, though he was not above borrowing for the 'Benedictus' an air from his comic opera, Il Mondo della Luna, composed in 1777.