Deryk Barker

>Scott Morrison ([log in to unmask]) wrote:
>
>>Yesterday a choral group I'm in rehearsed and performed, with members of
>>the Kansas City Symphony, the Haydn 'Lord Nelson Mass' (Mass in d
>
>I have always found it odd that North Americans tend to refer to this as
>the "Lord Nelson" mass, whereas the British call it the "Nelson" mass.  I
>wonder what this says about their respective attitudes to the aristocracy?
>
>Or it could be because Lord N would have signed himself merely "Nelson"...

I have checked some web sites to try to find the answer to this.  As far
as I can tell Nelson was already a lord (baron) when he met Haydn so that
can't be the explanation.

You are correct that the British nobility do omit their titles when
signing.

But I think the anwer is simpler.  British folk heros tend to be known
solely by their surname.  Hence its Churchill not Sir Winston Churchill
and Byron not Lord Byron.  So it is with Nelson.

Bob Draper
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