In its season opener at Richardson Auditorium this past weekend, Princeton Pro Musica returned to its roots in the great choral masses of music history. Pro Musica Artistic Director Ryan James Brandau centered Sunday afternoon’s concert on one of the more dramatic masses of Franz Joseph Haydn, combined with smaller choral works similarly grounded with Classical melodies and clear-cut structures. Dr. Brandau combined the 100-voice Pro Musica with a Classically-sized orchestra and the established Polydora Ensemble, whose members doubled as soloists for the Haydn mass.

Although it might seem the concert’s opening Arvo Pärt’s Fratres for solo violin and orchestra would not fit with 18th and 19th-century choral music, Dr. Brandau found a connection between this work and Haydn’s Missa in Angustiis in musical drama conveyed through agitated and tempestuous orchestration. Pärt’s 1977 one-movement work was composed in his signature style of tintinnabuli, a style reflecting Pärt’s use of mystical and chant music. Violinist Johanna Novom, who also served as concertmaster of the accompanying orchestra for the concert, began Fratres with a feathery solo violin part, showing the work’s tintinnabuli bell-like character and icy feeling. The solo violin line was joined by a rich rolling lower string melody, and woodblock percussion (played by William Trigg) which gauged dramatic intensity as the work moved along. Throughout the piece, Dr. Brandau kept his conducting precise, and both percussion and strings were right with him.

The four short choral works presented were from the 19th century, but were based in a Classical structure and style which can be traced back to Haydn. The four-voice Polydora Ensemble performed two selections from Johannes Brahms’ Opus 112 vocal quartets, expertly accompanied by pianist Yuri Kim. From the outset of “Sehnsucht,” it was clear that soprano Margaret Dudley and mezzo-soprano Helen Karloski were perfectly matched, with equal vibrato and timbre. This perfect blend continued through “Nächtens,” complemented by baritone Jesse Blumberg’s precise text declamation.

The full Pro Musica chorus continued this approach to 19th-century choral music with a rich and flowing performance of Felix Mendelssohn’s Verleih uns Frieden, one of the most mellifluous works in the repertoire. Mendelssohn’s shorter choral works have often been under performed, and this short strophic musical prayer is a good reason why more choruses should look at this repertory. Following the opening rich melody from the celli of the orchestra, the singers of Pro Musica demonstrated a well-blended sound saving their fullest volume for the closing assurance that God alone fights for us.

Chorus, orchestra and quartet came together for Haydn’s Missa in Angustiis, subtitled the “Lord Nelson” Mass. Composed roughly a decade before Haydn’s death, Missa in Angustiis came at the height of Haydn’s career but from a dark place in world history as Austria struggled with continual assaults by Napoleon. The news that Admiral Nelson had defeated Napoleon coincided with early performances of this work, and Haydn’s “mass for troubled times” acquired a new moniker which has remained to this day. Conductor Brandau and the chorus began the opening “Kyrie” with sufficient drama, especially aided by a trio of crisp trumpets in the orchestra. Much of the tension in this work is carried by the soprano soloist, who is required to shift on a dime between high-speed coloratura and expressive lyricism. Ms. Dudley was solidly up to the task, both effortlessly spinning off the melismatic passages and conveying the more poignant sections. When joined by Ms. Karloski, especially in the more expressive sections of the “Credo,” the two voices were well matched. Ms. Dudley also commanded well the “Benedictus,” which unlike the more reflective “Benedictus” vocal quartets of Mozart masses, was a clear dramatic cry to God, becoming more plaintive with the closing text.

Throughout the mass, the choral sound of Pro Musica was clean and precise, bringing out dynamic swells and solid control of the fugal sections. Works of this type are the bread and butter of Pro Musica’s performance history, and the ensemble held up its vocal tone throughout the mass with good diction and solid transitions to quicker movements. The orchestra compiled for this concert was responsive to Dr. Brandau’s conducting gestures, and solid in subtle accompaniment in music which is always enjoyable for the orchestra to play and for choruses to sing.