Missa Sancti Joannis Nepomuceni MH 182

Scoring: Coro SATB, 2 Ob, 2 Ctr, 2 Tr, Timp, 2 Vl, Bc, [3 Trb colla parte]

Haydn’s Missa Sancti Joannis Nepomuceni, dated 21 May 1772, is dedicated to the Bohemian martyr and patron “Saint of bridges,” Johannes Nepomuk (ca. 1340–1393, canonized in 1729).

Despite the addition of woodwinds and brass to the three-part string section, the Mass is in a comparatively simple, compact form as was expressly required by Count Hieronymus Colloredo, Haydn’s second employer in Salzburg.

Even in the final sections of the Gloria and Credo Haydn forgoes not only vocal virtuosity, but also the polyphonic artifices which traditionally characterize these passages in the Mass. Like the Missa Sancti Amandi (1776), the Nepomuk Mass does not employ vocal soloists.