Joseph Haydn - Missa Cellensis (René Jacobs)

Information

Composer: Joseph Haydn

• Missa in C Major, Hob. XXII:5 "Cellensis in Honorem Beatissimae Virginis Mariae"

Mari Eriksmoen, soprano

Kristina Hammarström, mezzo-soprano

Mark Milhofer, tenor

Christian Senn, baritone

Zürcher Sing-Akademie

Kammerorchester Basel

René Jacobs, conductor

Date: 2025

Label: Alpha Classics

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This recording marks the beginning of a four-album collaboration (2025–2028) between René Jacobs, the Kammerorchester Basel, the Zürcher Sing-Akademie, and Alpha Classics. The series opens with Haydn’s Missa Cellensis, followed by three albums featuring his final six masses. Commissioned in 1766 as a Missa Solemnis, the work was long misidentified until a rediscovered manuscript in 1975 clarified it as the first of Haydn’s two Missæ Cellenses. This large-scale and vibrant 1766 mass is performed here under Jacobs’s expert direction, with trusted soloists, his long-time orchestral partners, and the distinguished Zürcher Sing-Akademie choir.

Born in Ghent in 1946, René Jacobs began his musical journey as a choirboy at St Bavo Cathedral and later studied Classical Philology. Guided by Alfred Deller, Gustav Leonhardt, and the Kuijken brothers, he became one of the leading countertenors of his generation. In 1977, he founded Concerto Vocale, specializing in Baroque opera and chamber music. Jacobs made his conducting debut in 1983 and has since led productions at major opera houses and festivals across Europe. Renowned for his scholarly, historically informed approach, he has recorded over 260 albums spanning from early Baroque to Schubert, securing his place as a major figure in vocal and orchestral music.