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During the semi-retirement from his long service as Kapellmeister to the Esterházy family, Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) was tasked with composing a Coronation Mass for the wife of his patron, Princess Esterházy. Exhausted from having just completed his great oratorio The Creation, his doctor ordered him confined to his room, which granted him the time to compose the third of his six great masses. Written in 1798, Haydn's world was very uncertain with an a seemingly unstoppable Napoleon waging war and winning all over Europe, threating Haydn's life and livelihood in Austria. In this context, and perhaps a few others, Haydn titled the work Missa in Angustiis (Mass for Troubled Times). Written in D minor and requiring virtuosic performances from particularly the soprano and bass soloists, budget decisions by the Esterházy family led to the dismissal of the wind players Haydn was accustomed to including in the orchestra, leaving him only include three trumpets along with the strings, timpani, and organ, which gave the orchestration a uniquely darker tone. Shortly after the September 23, 1798, premiere at the town parish church, the work earned its new nickname 'Nelsonmesse' (Lord Nelson Mass). Admiral Horatio Nelson's British army had just dealt Napoleon a stunning defeat in the Battle of the Nile in Egypt, and Haydn's mass seemed to perfectly encapsulate the initial darkness then triumph that mirrored Napoleon's loss. The nickname was further cemented when Lord Nelson visited Palais Esterházy in 1800 and heard a performance of the work. This mass is now widely considered to be Haydn's single greatest work.

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