Westminster Abbey is home to a Nelson waxwork

The abbey's museum houses a wax effigy of the admiral, who defeated a French fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar, 1805.

The abbey choir will mark the battle's bicentenary year by performing Haydn's Nelson Mass at 1900 BST next Tuesday, close to where the waxwork stands.

The work was composed in 1798 at the time of the Battle of the Nile, another famous Nelson victory over the French.

Franz Josef Haydn, an Austrian composer, only had a passing acquaintance with Britain's most famous naval commander.

It seemed very fitting to include a performance of [the mass] in the run-up to the bicentenary of Trafalgar Day James O'Donnell Director of music at Westminster

He had named his choral work Missa in Angustiis - "mass in time of adversity" - but the timing of its composition led to it being associated with Nelson.

In 1800 Nelson is thought to have visited Haydn and exchanged gifts with him - the composer receiving a gold watch.

By the time of the Battle of Trafalgar, five years later, it seems the piece had become popularly known as the Nelson Mass.

The abbey's director of music, James O'Donnell, says the composition is one of Haydn's greatest masses.

Mr O'Donnell, who will conduct the choir himself, said: "It's a striking and imaginative work, contrasting some beautifully lyrical music with the more rousing, military sound of trumpets and drums.

"It seemed very fitting to include a performance of it in the run-up to the bicentenary of Trafalgar Day."

The concert is part of the Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music, which runs from 7 to 28 May.