Next stop, Carnegie Hall?
On Wednesday in Manhattan, 50 singers from the Choir of Trinity Church, Princeton, will join their counterparts from the Choir of Trinity Church, New Haven, to sing a performance of a masterwork by Frank Josef Haydn, the Mass in Time of War (1796), with the American Classical Orchestra (ACO) under the direction of Thomas Crawford.
Of the work’s four solo parts, three will be sung by Princeton’s singers — Zachary E. Coates, Heather Kayan, and Adam Phillips.
According to Tom Whittemore, Trinity Church’s music director, the choir was invited by the ACO especially for the occasion, and the singers are “energized and excited” by the challenge of singing one of sacred musuc’s great scores.
“This enhances what the choristers do here at home, and it expands their reach, as well. It has certainly required a great deal of work in addition to their responsibilities for singing at services. We’ve been working on the Haydn since September, in bits and pieces as we go,” Mr. Whittemore says.
Composed at the height of Haydn’s powers, the wartime Mass — also known as the “Paukenmesse,” or kettledrum Mass, due to the unusual prominence of the tympani in a sacred work — reflects the troubled period of the Napoleonic wars, with Austria under siege. It is sometimes viewed as an antiwar piece even though there is no such message in the text, which does contain a prayer for peace that is standard in the Roman Catholic rite.
It’s a stretch for Trinity’s choristers because Haydn’s writing is “very challenging vocally, very demanding. The singers have to have a lot of agility in fast fugal passages, and be able to sustain long phrases with solid breathing,” Mr. Whittemore says.
But the choristers are ready, he feels sure, and they also looking forward to returning to New York on Sunday, Feb. 22, when the Trinity Choir will sing Evensong at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.
Also, here’s a save-the-date: On Sunday, May 3, the Combined Choirs of Trinity Church Princeton and Church of the Redeemer Bryn Mawr will perform G.F. Handel’s magnificent Coronation Anthems in a concert to benefit the Crisis Ministry of Princeton and Trenton. Stay tuned.
Wednesday’s concert, which includes Haydn’s Symphony No. 96 (“Miracle”), will begin at 8 p.m. The Church of the Blessed Sacrament is located at 152 W. 71st St., New York City, near Lincoln Center. Tickets are $35 and $50 through the box office of the American Classical Orchestra, 212-362-2727 or www.amerclassorch.org.
— Michael Redmond

