Peace

Peace

Andover Choral Society will present its winter concert, "Peace" on Sunday, February 2, 2025, at 3 p.m. It will feature Haydn's Missa in tempore belli in C (Mass in Time of War) and Vaughan Williams' Dona nobis pacem. The concert will take place at the Univeralist Unitarian Church, 15 Kenoza Ave. in Haverhill, MA, which is wheel-chair accessible.

Haydn began composing the second of his six ‘late’ masses in the autumn of 1796 in Eisenstadt, Austria and completed it later that year in Vienna. Haydn’s title for the work, Missa in tempore belli (Mass in Time of War), reflects the Austrian people’s fear of a French invasion. Despite the title ascribed by Haydn, the work is also often referred to by the nickname Paukenmesse (‘pauken’ is the German word for timpani) due to the prominent timpani solo in the ‘Agnus Dei’ movement.

Ralph Vaughan Williams was commissioned to write “Dona Nobis Pacem” for the 1936 centennial celebration of the Huddersfield Choral Society in Yorkshire, England. Written as a plea for peace, he took his texts from a variety of sources including Walt Whitman, a political speech, the Bible and the traditional Latin Mass.

If you would like to sing with us, the chorus will be holding open rehearsals on Monday, September 16, 2024 and Monday, September 23, 2024 from 7:20 to 9:30 at Christ Church, 33 Central Street, Andover, MA.

Host or Publisher Andover Choral Society