BEETHOVEN, Missa Solemnis
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Missa solemnis
Although Beethoven was deeply religious and took a keen and lasting interest in theological and philosophical matters, he composed only a few sacred works: two masses (the Missa solemnis and the Mass in C major, Op. 86) and a sacred oratorio (Christus am Ölberge, Op. 85), along with a few smaller choral compositions and several songs with religious texts. Part of the reason for this may have been that, unlike Haydn and Mozart, Beethoven was not under any contractual obligation that forced him to write sacred works. Additionally, art and religion had grown apart since the Enlightenment; for instance, art itself, often without liturgical association, could assume a strongly religious aspect—evident in Beethoven's case in the finale of the Ninth Symphony or in the third movement of his String Quartet in A minor, Op. 132, which he subtitled "Thanksgiving Song of a Convalescent to the Divinity."
Neither the Op. 86 Mass nor the Op. 85 oratorio is currently counted among Beethoven's more important works. The Missa solemnis, on the other hand, is generally regarded as a masterpiece of Catholic church music, even though, over the four years needed to complete it, it grew into a monumental work that exceeded all liturgical limitations. It may thus have been no coincidence that the first performance, in St. Petersburg, took place in the old Philharmonic Hall, and that the work was described in the program as an "oratorio." Initially, however, the Missa solemnis was certainly planned as a liturgical composition: as a festive mass for the consecration of Beethoven's great patron, Archduke Rudolph, as Archbishop of Olomouc on March 9, 1820.
We should not, however, exaggerate the importance of this external factor. Beethoven was a composer who was very aware of what he was doing and was primarily concerned with the evolution and development of his art. He would not have composed such a mass simply because his patron had been elected Archbishop. It appealed to him to master this cumbersome liturgical text—especially the Gloria and Credo—in musical and formal terms. Moreover, he sought to compose another great religious work: as often happens in crisis situations, in the last years of his life—due to his total deafness—Beethoven turned increasingly to religion, or even sought comfort in it. Even though he remained surrounded by many friends and admirers, experiencing such (in part self-imposed) isolation must have been extremely distressing.
Beethoven approached his artistic engagement with the mass text very purposefully. A total of sixteen more or less extensive sketchbooks and numerous other separate sheets document his struggles with individual themes and motifs in search of harmonic and formal solutions. Throughout his life, Beethoven had regularly been beset by illness, and while working on the Missa solemnis, his efforts were complicated by several serious health issues. First, in late autumn and winter of 1820, he suffered for several weeks from a severe bout of influenza. More serious still was the jaundice he experienced in 1821, which weakened him significantly, rendering him incapable of intensive artistic work for almost a year. It was not until well into 1822 that the work was provisionally finished—provisionally, because he subsequently undertook numerous alterations (at one point even planning to add a Graduale, Offertorium, and Tantum ergo)—resulting in the première in St. Petersburg not occurring until nearly two years later, on March 26, 1824.
Nonetheless, the Missa solemnis exhibits stylistic unity of the highest order while simultaneously serving as a compendium of Catholic sacred music. It is not without justification that Beethoven regarded this mass—rather than, for example, the Ninth Symphony—as his most important, most significant, and greatest work. He stated in a letter to his biographer and former pupil Ferdinand Ries on July 6, 1822: "My greatest work is a big mass that I have recently composed." He reiterated this sentiment in numerous letters to friends, colleagues, and publishers.
Whole volumes have been written about the purely technical and compositional aspects of the work, including the relationships between its keys and the incredible skill shown in the two great, seemingly never-ending fugues that conclude the Gloria and Credo (a must in Latin mass settings). What makes the Missa solemnis even more special, however, is the way Beethoven treats the meaning of the mass text itself. From the very start, finding an appropriate interpretation was of great importance to him.
In a note written at the beginning of the compositional process, Beethoven observed: "In order to write true church music, go through all the monks' church chorals [i.e., Gregorian chant] etc.; also look there for the stanzas in the most correct translations along with a most perfect prosody of all Christian-Catholic psalms and hymns in general."
Here, Beethoven had two main concerns: to interpret the liturgical text with precision and to convey its meaning to the audience. In a letter to his friend, the piano builder Johann Andreas Streicher, on September 16, 1824, he wrote: "My dear friend, I shall comply with your wish to provide the various choral societies with the vocal parts of my recent great Mass together with a reduction for organ or piano, above all because these societies—at public events and especially at church ceremonies—can have a particularly strong impact on the public, and when I was working on this great Mass, my main concern was to awaken and consolidate religious feelings among the singers and listeners alike."
In an early review of the mass in the music magazine Cecilia, the musical educator and composer Georg Christoph Grossmann wrote: "In the Benedictus, a solo violin descends from the greatest heights; two flutes descend with it and enfold us like spring air. They announce the angel's sweet tread, of which Handel in his Messiah also gave us such a beautiful image." He was referring to the "pifa" in 12/8 time with which Handel begins the Christmas section of his Messiah. Pieces in 6/8 or 12/8 were perceived by audiences of the period as "shepherds' music" or even "Christmas music." Every listener in Beethoven's time would have associated this solo violin in 12/8 with Christmas, with the birth of Jesus. Thus, right from the outset, Beethoven created a very specific religious, Christmas atmosphere. One could even say that in this way he manipulated the audience's mood, as he could safely assume he was appealing to their hearts in a particular way.
Finally, a look at the Agnus Dei reveals that, like the Kyrie, this section contains a threefold plea for mercy: twice "Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis," and on the third occasion, "miserere nobis" is replaced by "dona nobis pacem" ("Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us / grant us peace"). In the autograph manuscript, next to the heading of the "Dona nobis pacem," Beethoven penciled in the explanation: "representing inner and outer peace." In a score made by a copyist, he altered this to "plea for inner and outer peace." The longing for peace, and the associated fear of war and destruction, held existential significance for Beethoven. When the Napoleonic troops besieged and fired on Vienna in 1809, Beethoven must have been so shaken that, according to an account by Ferdinand Ries, he spent "most of the time in his brother Caspar's cellar, where he covered his head with cushions so that he would not hear the gunfire."
To treat the "Dona nobis pacem" as an independent section was a completely accepted procedure. In Beethoven's case, however, it was significantly more than that: he expanded this "plea for inner and outer peace" into a rousing and moving representation of war and peace. On two occasions, he writes battle music. The first time it is heard only briefly, although it causes great fear among the alto and tenor soloists (it is marked "timidamente"), culminating in a desperate plea for mercy. The second battle passage increases in tempo to Presto and ends with timpani and trumpets before the choir enters with the plea for mercy. Battle music in a Catholic mass! The music calms down, and the wonderfully tender theme of the "Dona nobis pacem" is heard again. Twenty-nine bars before the end, Beethoven makes it clear that earthly peace is always deceptive, however, by adding timpani amid the peaceful bliss: playing pianissimo, as if from afar, it reminds us yet again of the horrors of war. Here, Beethoven comes to terms with his own, very personal experiences, but generalizes them and elevates them to a higher, religious level.
© Ernst Herttrich 2017
Dr. Ernst Herttrich is the former head of the Beethoven Complete Edition (1990-2006), the Beethoven-Haus publishing house (1998-2006), and the Beethoven-Archiv (2003-06).
The Bach Collegium Japan
It was founded in 1990 by Masaaki Suzuki, who remains its music director, with the aim of introducing Japanese audiences to period instrument performances of great works from the baroque period. Since 1995 the BCJ has acquired a formidable reputation through its recordings of Bach's church cantatas, an enterprise which in 2013 was concluded with the release of the 55th and final volume.
During this period, the BCJ has also established itself on the international concert scene, with appearances at prestigious venues and festivals such as Carnegie Hall in New York, the Ansbach Bachwoche and Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival in Germany as well as at the BBC Proms in London. Besides the much acclaimed recordings of cantatas, releases by the ensemble include performances of a number of large-scale choral works by Bach, as well as Monteverdi (Vespers) and Handel (Messiah). Most recently, the recording of Mozart's Great Mass in C minor [BIS-2171] received critical acclaim, including a 2017 Gramophone Award in the choral category.
Born in Kobe, Masaaki Suzuki began working as a church organist at the age of twelve. He studied the organ under Tsuguo Hirono at the Tokyo University of the Arts, going on to the Sweelinck Academy in Amsterdam in 1979. There he studied the harpsichord under Ton Koopman and the organ under Piet Kee, graduating with a soloist's diploma in both instruments. His impressive discography on the BIS label has brought him many critical plaudits, and he is regularly invited to work with renowned period ensembles such as the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Philharmonia Baroque. Masaaki Suzuki also conducts modern orchestras, including the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, in repertoire as diverse as Britten, Fauré, Haydn, Mahler, Mendelssohn, Mozart and Stravinsky. Masaaki Suzuki combines his conducting career with his work as an organist and harpsichordist. Founder of the early music department at the Tokyo University of the Arts, Masaaki Suzuki was named honorary protessor there in 2015. He is currently guest professor at Kobe Shoin Women's University as well as principal guest conductor at the Yale Schola
Cantorum. In 2001 he was awarded the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, and in 2012 he received the Bach Medal, awarded by the city of Leipzig.
Recognized for her interpretations of Mozartian roles, Ann-Helen Moen began her career as a member of the ensemble at the Graz Opera and has appeared at prestigious opera houses including the Norwegian National Opera, Hannover Staatsoper, Danish National Opera and Opernhaus Zürich. A sought-after concert artist, she has performed with the major Scandinavian orchestras, and with ensembles such as the MDR Symphony Orchestra in Leipzig. Conductors with whom she has collaborated include Edward Gardner, Sir Andrew Davis, Andrew Litton and Susanna Mälkki. Ann-Helen Moen studied at the Grieg Academy in Bergen and at the Royal Danish Opera Aca-demy.
Roxana Constantinescu has won acclaim for her ability to approach different styles with equal beauty and commitment. As a soloist of the Vienna State Opera she performed roles such as Rosina, Cherubino, Nicklausse and Zerlina. The Romanian mezzo-soprano has appeared as a guest at prestigious opera houses including the Zurich Opera House, Teatro la Fenice, New National Theatre Tokyo and Deutsche Oper Berlin. In concert Roxana Constantinescu has performed with such eminent conductors as Seiji Ozawa, Ricardo Muti, Pierre Boulez and Gustavo Dudamel and orchestras including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.
http://roxanaconstantinescu.com
James Gilehrist sang as a chorister at New College, Oxford and as a choral scholar at King's College, Cambridge before training as a doctor. He turned to a full-time career in music in 1996 and has become one of the Britain's best-loved tenors. His extensive concert repertoire has seen him perform in major concert halls throughout the world, with conductors including Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Sir Roger Norrington and Harry Christophers. Bach's Christmas Oratorio and the St John and St Matthew Passions feature prominently in his schedule, and he is celebrated as perhaps the finest Evangelist of his generation.
Benjamin Bevan, baritone, studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and made his Royal Opera House, Covent Garden début as Henry Cuffe in Britten's Gloriana. Other notable operatic engagements include appearances at the Royal Danish Opera, Opéra de Dijon, Welsh National Opera and Scottish Opera, in roles such as Lescaut (Manon and Boulevard Solitude), Morales (Carmen), Ricardo (I Puritani) and Marcello (La Bohème). On the concert platform, he has worked with ensembles including The English Concert, Bach Collegium Japan, The Hanover Band, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra and Colorado Symphony.
www.benbevan.com
THIS RECORDING HAS RECEIVED GENEROUS SUPPORT FROM:
Tres Inc.
Tamaki Suzuki
Motomi Wakamatsu
Kazuhiko Takeo
Atsuo Toyama
Kyoko Tsuruta
Tatsuro Tsuruta
Hisayo Hanai
Mayumi Higuchi
Makoto Kitamura
Tomoko Kumagai
Hiroko Manaka
Noriko Nakamura
Teruko Ouchi
Hitoshi Suzuki
Koko Takahashi
Motoko Watanabe
Shin-ichiro Watanabe
Tadashi Watanabe
Makoto Yaguchi
