Haydn's 'Mass in Times of Fear' is also known under the epithet 'Nelson Mass' which alludes to the famous Battle of Abukir in which the British Admiral Nelson fought the French victoriously. Haydn could not have known anything about this at the time of completion of the Mass, but it was not least the instrumentation with its military character – trumpets and timpani play a major role – that captures the threatening atmosphere of that time of unrest.

The study score is published in an easy-to-read large format for the first time.