The Missa solemnis in D Major, Op. 123 was composed by Ludwig van Beethoven from 1819-1823. Opus, from the Latin word opus meaning "work" is usually used in the sense of "a Work of art " Ludwig van Beethoven ( English ˈlʊdvɪg væn ˈbeɪtoʊvən, 16 December 1770 &ndash 26 March 1827 was a German Composer and Pianist. It was first performed on April 7, 1824 in St. Petersburg, under the auspices of Beethoven's patron Prince Nikolai Galitzin; an incomplete performance was given in Vienna on 7 May 1824, when the Kyrie, Credo, and Agnus Dei were conducted by the composer. Events 529 - First draft of Corpus Juris Civilis (a fundamental work in Jurisprudence) is issued by Eastern Roman Emperor Year 1824 ( MDCCCXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap year Saint Petersburg ( tr: Sankt-Peterburg,) is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River Vienna ( in Wien; see also other names) is the Capital of Austria, and is also one of the nine States of Austria. Events 558 - In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapses Year 1824 ( MDCCCXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap year [1] It is generally considered to be one of the composer's supreme achievements. Together with Bach's Mass in B Minor, it is the most significant mass setting of the common practice period. The Mass in B minor ( BWV 232 is a musical setting (or more formally a Missa tota) of the Latin Mass by Johann Sebastian Bach, also For other uses see Mass (disambiguation The Mass, a form of sacred musical composition, is a choral composition that The common practice period, in the history of European Art music (broadly called Classical music) spanning the Baroque, Classical, and
Unquestionably a great work, representing Beethoven at the height of his powers, it has notably failed to reach the popularity of many of the symphonies and sonatas. Written around the same time as his ninth symphony, it is Beethoven's second setting of the mass, after his Mass in C, Op. 86, a work far less admired. The Symphony No 9 in D minor Op 125 "Choral" is the last complete Symphony composed by Ludwig van Beethoven. Ludwig van Beethoven wrote his Mass in C major, Op 86 to a commission from Prince Nikolaus Esterházy II in 1807.
The mass is scored for 2 flutes; 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (in A, C, and B♭); 2 bassoons; contrabassoon; 4 horns (in D, E♭, B♭ basso, E, and G); 2 trumpets (D, B♭, and C); alto, tenor, and bass trombone; timpani; organ continuo; strings (violins I and II, violas, cellos, and basses); soprano, alto, tenor, and bass soloists; and soprano, alto, tenor, and bass chorus. The flute is a Musical instrument of the Woodwind family Unlike other woodwind instruments a flute is a Reedless wind instrument that produces its "Hautbois" redirects here for the strawberry variety see Hautbois strawberry. The clarinet is a Musical instrument in the Woodwind family The name derives from adding the suffix -et meaning little to the Italian word The bassoon is a Woodwind instrument in the Double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and Tenor registers and occasionally The contrabassoon is a larger version of the Bassoon sounding an octave lower The trombone is a Musical instrument in the brass family Like all brass instruments it is a lip-reed Aerophone: sound is produced when the player’s Timpani (also known colloquially as kettledrums or kettle drums) are Musical instruments in the percussion family The organ (from Greek όργανον – organon "organ instrument tool" is a Keyboard instrument of one or more divisions each Figured bass, or thoroughbass, is a kind of integer Musical notation used to indicate intervals, chords and Nonchord tones in relation The violin is a bowed String instrument with four strings usually tuned in Perfect fifths It is the smallest and highest-pitched member The viola is a bowed String instrument. It is the middle voice of the Violin family, The violoncello (abbreviated to cello, or 'cello, plural cellos or celli —the c is tʃ The double bass is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed String instrument used in the modern symphony orchestra. This article is related to a series of articles under the main article Voice type. Alto is a musical term derived from the Latin word altus, meaning "high" that has several possible interpretations The tenor is the highest male voice within the Modal register, just above the Baritone voice For the musical composition see Chorale. A choir, chorale, or chorus is a Musical ensemble of Singers
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Structure
Like most masses, Beethoven's Missa solemnis is in five movements:
- Kyrie: Perhaps the most traditional of the mass movements, the Kyrie is in a traditional ABA' structure, with stately choral writing in the first movement section and more contrapuntal voice leading in the Christe. Kýrie is from the Greek word κύριε (kyrie the Vocative case of κύριος (kyrios meaning O Lord. In Music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and Rhythm, and interdependent in Harmony
- Gloria: Quickly shifting textures and themes highlight each portion of the Gloria text, in a beginning to the movement that is almost encyclopedic in its exploration of 3/4 time. " Gloria in excelsis Deo " ( Latin for "Glory to God in the highest" is the title and beginning of a hymn known also as the Greater Doxology The time signature (also known as " meter signature" is a notational convention used in Western Musical notation to specify how many beats The movement ends with the first of the work's two massive fugues, on the text "In gloria Dei patris. In Music, a fugue (ˈfjuːg is a type of contrapuntal composition or technique of composition for a fixed number of parts, normally referred Amen", leading into a recapitulation of the initial Gloria text and music. In Music theory, the recapitulation is one of the sections of a movement written in Sonata form.
- Credo: One of the most remarkable movements to come from Beethoven's pen opens with a chord sequence that will be used again in the movement to effect modulations. The Nicene Creed (ˈnaɪsiːn is an ecumenical Christian statement of faith accepted in the Eastern Orthodox Church, Assyrian Church of This article describes musical chords in traditional Western styles In Music, modulation is most commonly the act or process of changing from one key ( tonic, or tonal center) to another The Credo, like the Gloria, is an often disorienting, mad rush through the text. The poignant modal harmonies for the "et incarnatus" yield to ever more expressive heights through the "crucifixus", and into a remarkable, a cappella setting of the "et resurrexit" that is over almost before it has begun. In Music, a scale is an ordered series of Musical intervals which along with the key or tonic, define the pitches However mode In Western music, harmony is the use of different pitches simultaneously and chords actual or implied in Music. A cappella (Italian or Latin "From the chapel/choir" Music is Vocal music or Singing without instrumental Accompaniment Most notable about the movement, though, is the closing fugue on "et vitam venturi" that includes one of the most difficult passages in the choral repertoire, when the subject returns at doubled tempo for a thrilling conclusion.
The form of the Credo is divided into four parts: (I) allegro ma non troppo through "descendit de coelis" in B-flat; (II) "Incarnatus est" through "Resurrexit" in D; (III) "Et ascendit" through the Credo recapitulation in F; (IV) Fugue and Coda "et vitam venturi saeculi, amen" in B-flat.
- Sanctus: Up until the benedictus of the Sanctus, the Missa solemnis is of fairly normal classical proportions. Sanctus is the Latin word for holy or saint and is the name of an important Hymn of Christian Liturgy. Sanctus is the Latin word for holy or saint and is the name of an important Hymn of Christian Liturgy. But then, after an orchestral preludio, a solo violin enters in its highest range — representing the Holy Spirit descending to earth, in a remarkably long extension of the text. A prelude is a short piece of Music, which its form will vary from piece to piece In mainstream Christianity, the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is one of the three entities of the Holy Trinity which make up the single substance
- Agnus Dei: A setting of the plea "miserere nobis" ("have mercy on us") that begins with the men's voices alone yields, eventually, to a bright D-major prayer "dona nobis pacem" ("grant us peace") in a pastoral mode. Agnus Dei is a Latin term meaning Lamb of God, and was originally used to refer to Jesus Christ in his role of the perfect sacrificial Pastoral, as an adjective refers to the lifestyle of Shepherds and Pastoralists moving livestock around larger areas of land according to seasons and availability After some fugal development, it is suddenly and dramatically interrupted by martial sounds (a convention in the 18th century, as in Haydn's Missa in tempore belli), but after repeated pleas of "miserere!", eventually recovers and brings itself to a stately conclusion. A military band is a group of personnel that perform musical duties for military functions usually Missa in Tempore Belli ( English: Mass in Time of War) is Joseph Haydn ’s tenth and one of the most popular of his fourteen
Performance
The musical form of the Missa solemnis is more akin to a symphony with choral accompaniment than a "traditional" choral Mass. The writing displays Beethoven's characteristic disregard for the performer and is in several places both technically and physically exacting, with many sudden changes of dynamic, metre and tempo. This is consistent throughout, starting with the opening Kyrie where the syllables Ky-ri are delivered either forte or with sforzando, but the final e is piano. As noted above, the reprise of the Et vitam venturi fugue is particularly taxing, being both subtly different from the previous statements of the theme and counter-theme, and delivered at around twice the speed.
The orchestral parts also include many demanding sections, including the violin solo in the Sanctus and some of the most demanding work in the repertoire for bassoon and contrabassoon. The bassoon is a Woodwind instrument in the Double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and Tenor registers and occasionally The contrabassoon is a larger version of the Bassoon sounding an octave lower
The difficulty of the piece, and the requirement for a full orchestra including leader solo, mean that it is not often performed by the amateur and semi-professional choirs which produce the majority of oratorio performances.
Critical response
Some critics have been troubled by the problem that, as Theodor Adorno put it, "there is something peculiar about the Missa solemnis. Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund Adorno ( September 11, 1903 &ndash August 6, 1969) was a German -born international sociologist " In many ways, it is an atypical work, even for Beethoven. Missing is the sustained exploration of themes through development that is one of Beethoven's hallmarks. In Music, a theme is the initial or primary Melody. The Encyclopédie Fasquelle (Michel 1958–61 defines a theme as follows "Any The massive fugues at the end of the Gloria and Credo align it with the work of his late period—but his simultaneous interest in the theme and variations form is more than absent. Variation form Variation form include Ground bass, Passacaglia, Chaconne, and theme and variations Instead, the Missa presents a continuous musical narrative, almost without repetition, particularly in the Gloria and Credo movements which last longer than any of the others. The style, Adorno has noted, is close to treatment of themes in imitation that one finds in the Flemish masters such as Josquin des Prez and Johannes Ockeghem, but it is unclear whether Beethoven was consciously imitating their techniques or whether this is simply a case of "convergent evolution" to meet the peculiar demands of the mass text. Josquin des Prez (c 1450 to 1455 &ndash August 27 1521 often referred to simply as Josquin, was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance. Johannes Ockeghem (also Jean de; surname Okeghem, Ogkegum, Okchem, Hocquegam, Ockegham; other variant spellings are also Convergent evolution describes the acquisition of the same biological trait in unrelated lineages Donald Francis Tovey has connected Beethoven to the earlier tradition in a different way:
| “ | Not even Bach or Handel can show a greater sense of space and of sonority. Sir Donald Francis Tovey (17 July 1875 &ndash 10 July 1940 was a British musical analyst, musicologist, writer on Music, Composer WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section.2 This article is written in British English including maximised use of "-ise" There is no earlier choral writing that comes so near to recovering some of the lost secrets of the style of Palestrina. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (between 3 February 1525 and 2 February 1526 - 2 February 1594 was an Italian Composer of the Renaissance. There is no choral and no orchestral writing, earlier or later, that shows a more thrilling sense of the individual colour of every chord, every position, and every doubled third or discord. | ” |
Perhaps the best way to recognize the importance of the mass in Beethoven's work is to acknowledge its singularity, and to view its remarkable variety and forceful individuality as the reflection of Beethoven's own relationship with the divine.
Some have remarked that his treatment of the text—including the addition of a high "a," in the Miserere section of the Gloria, and the quick disposal of several lines of text in the Credo underneath the weight of the two other choral parts and orchestra—shows a willful indifference to the more dogmatic precepts of the church, while others see the forceful expression of the central movements as having a sincerity that could only be born of true belief.
Compared to other works of similar stature, the Missa solemnis is rarely performed. Its notoriously difficult choral parts make it a stumbling block for many orchestras who only have access to volunteer choirs. Limited performances of the work have made the work far less known than Beethoven's other large works.
See also
Missa Solemnis (disambiguation page)
References
- ^ Elliot Forbes (ed. ), Thayer's Life of Beethoven, Princeton, 1970, vol. Alexander Wheelock Thayer (b South Natick Massachusetts, US, 22 October 1817, d II, p. 908, p. 925
External links
- 'Credo Movement,'- Commentary by Kristin Diana Trayer
- 'Missa Solemnis,' a Divine Bit of Beethoven - NPR piece about Beethoven's Missa Solemnis
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