Today’s CD is Missa Solemnis in D Op. 123.
If “Solemnis” means solemn then this is aptly named.
It has a weightiness about it.
And a bigness.
This choir sounds massive.
Believe it or not, even though this is a vocal composition – a mass, no less – I like it.
Choirs this big, with those soaring soprano voices, often give me the chills.
This one definitely did. (And, yes, Missa Solemnis means Solemn Mass.)
According to its entry on Wikipedia, this one of Beethoven’s biggies.
The Missa solemnis in D major, Op. 123, was composed by Ludwig van Beethoven from 1819 to 1823. It was first performed on 7 April 1824 in St. Petersburg, Russia, 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. It is generally considered one of the composer’s supreme achievements and, along with Bach’s Mass in B minor, one of the most significant Mass settings of the common practice period.
This certainly sounds significant. It’s beautiful.
There are five parts to this composition:
1. Kyrie
2. Gloria
3. Credo
4. Sanctus
5. Agnus Dei
Gloria is stunning – powerful and beautiful.
Of Credo, the Wiki entry tells us it is,
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 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. 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.
I gotta tell you, this movement is so massive, so overwhelming, that it nearly made me cry. I was that moved.
Performers are:
Anna Tomowa-Sintow soprano
Anelies Burmeister alto
Peter Schreier tenor
Hermann Christian Polster bass
Gerhard Bosse solo violin
Hannes Kastner organ
Rundfunkchor Leipzig
Horst Neumann chorus master
Gewandhausorchester Leipzig
Kurt Masur conductor
According to Wiki, this took Beethoven four years to compose. He started when he was 49 and finished when he was 53. He was becoming quite deaf by that time. According to Beethoven’s bio on Wikipedia,
Around 1796, by the age of 26, Beethoven began to lose his hearing. He suffered from a severe form of tinnitus, a “ringing” in his ears that made it hard for him to hear music; he also tried to avoid conversations. The cause of Beethoven’s deafness is unknown, but it has variously been attributed to typhus, auto-immune disorders (such as systemic lupus erythematosus), and even his habit of immersing his head in cold water to stay awake. The explanation from Beethoven’s autopsy was that he had a “distended inner ear,” which developed lesions over time.
As early as 1801, Beethoven wrote to friends describing his symptoms and the difficulties they caused in both professional and social settings (although it is likely some of his close friends were already aware of the problems). Beethoven, on the advice of his doctor, lived in the small Austrian town of Heiligenstadt, just outside Vienna, from April to October 1802 in an attempt to come to terms with his condition. There he wrote his Heiligenstadt Testament, a letter to his brothers which records his thoughts of suicide due to his growing deafness and records his resolution to continue living for and through his art. Over time, his hearing loss became profound: at the end of the premiere of his Ninth Symphony in 1824, he had to be turned around to see the tumultuous applause of the audience because he could hear neither it nor the orchestra.
This means when Missa Solemnis was performed in 1824 that he most certainly could not have heard it, which is an utter tragedy. Something this beautiful and its composer could not even hear it performed.
To see Missa Solemnis performed live would be an experience I’d never forget.
As it is, I’m not likely to forget this performance from the Brilliant Classics label.
It’s worth noting 1824 is just three years until Beethoven’s death. So he is deaf, possibly starting to feel something going wrong with his body, and likely feeling depressed as hell.
Yet, he was able to create a mass considered one of the world’s greatest musical achievements.
I don’t know what else to say.
If you’d like to be moved beyond words, spend an hour or so watching – no, make that experiencing – this:
That conductor is no Leonard Bernstein. But I didn’t like the Leonard Bernstein version on YouTube. The music and vocals weren’t as powerful. Plus, it seemed to be all about Leonard Bernstein. The video above comes closes to capturing the power and majesty of what I heard today on the CD from Brilliant Classics.
Of the Leonard Bernstein version, one YouTube post described the music this way:
“This music is the greatest verse ever penned in all of time. The divinity, the truth, the beauty is devastating. Devastating to my soul. A thousand galaxies for Beethoven would not be enough to pay the debt this world owes him.”
Another YouTube post (also from the Leonard Bernstein version):
“Beethoven makes life worth living.”
Amen. And amen.