The next concert by the Oratorio choir will take place in the West Kirk of Helensburgh on Sunday 28th March 2010. The music has a naval theme. The main item is Haydn's Nelson Mass. Completed in 1798 at a time was Austria was threatened by Napoleonic armies, the work is associated with Nelson because its first performance happens to have coincided with the arrival in Vienna of the happy news of his victory at the Battle of the Nile and also because of the admiral's visit to the Esterhazy court in 1800, when he may have heard the work performed. The concert will also include A Great and Glorious Victory by Jonathan Willcocks, a work commissioned in 2005 to mark the bicentennary of Nelson's victory at Trafalgar.
If you would like to listen to the Nelson Mass, there is a free, legally available recording on a website called we7.com. You do not need a player - the links below will stream the music to a PC. The only downside is that you have to put up with adverts between each track.
Here is the link to listen:
Haydn : Nelson Mass
The link below enables you to listen to brief extracts ("samples") of the Willcocks
Tickets will available (from February 2010) from the names listed on the contacts page or Bookworms in Helensburgh (01436 674743).
