Mass in C major (Beethoven)

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The Mass in C major op. 86 was written by Ludwig van Beethoven from March to August 1807 on behalf of Prince Nikolaus II von Esterházy on the name day of his wife Maria Josepha Hermengilde von Liechtenstein .

At the time of composing his first mass setting, Beethoven was modeled on the masses composed by his teacher Joseph Haydn , which he regarded as "inimitable masterpieces" and which he also studied while composing. This is expressed in the fact that Beethoven's sketches for the Gloria of his C major Mass , as discovered in 1991 by the musicologist McGrann and, independently of him, Alan Tyson , also contain two passages from Haydn's Creation Mass .

The fair premiered on September 13, 1807 in Eisenstadt . Since the prince did not like the mass, Beethoven dedicated it to Prince Kinsky when it went to press.

Parts of the mass were performed on December 22nd, 1808 in the " Theater an der Wien ". (On this evening, the 5th symphony , the 6th symphony , the 4th piano concerto and the choir fantasy op. 80 were also premiered).

With this mass, Beethoven distanced himself from traditional mass settings and, according to his own admission, treated the text as “it has been rarely treated”. However, Beethoven's most famous mass became the Missa solemnis .

Sentence names

  1. Kyrie
  2. Gloria (Qui tollis - Quoniam)
  3. Creed
  4. Sanctus (Benedictus - Osanna)
  5. Agnus Dei (Dona nobis pacem)

effect

Beethoven's secretary and later biographer Anton Schindler reported an anecdote that the Beethoven biographer Alexander Wheelock Thayer also took up. The stylistics Haydn's usual Prince Esterházy was the major Mass C. asked spontaneously as needle critically known Beethoven: "But, dear Beethoven, what have you got done again," what of Esterházy court conductor Johann Nepomuk Hummel , who has already some Had written masses for the prince, was greeted with a gleeful laugh. Beethoven, to whom the prince had also assigned inferior accommodation on the occasion of the composition of the C major mass , then left the city furiously. Beethoven biographer Maynard Solomon doubted the veracity of this anecdote, as Beethoven's stay in Eisenstadt for a further three days after the premiere is guaranteed. From the point of view of Beethoven biographer Elliot Forbes, however , the reassignment to Prince Kinsky suggests that the reported incident actually took place.

ETA Hoffmann had expected to find that tremendous power in the mass that he knew from Beethoven's 5th Symphony , but then expressed himself surprised in his review of 1813 about “the expression of a childlike, cheerful disposition”, “which, based on its purity "Faithfully trusting in the grace of God and pleading to him as to the Father who wants the best for his children and answers their requests". In the C minor section of Agnus Dei Hoffmann heard "a feeling of inner melancholy, which does not tear the heart apart but does him good, and how the pain that has come from another world dissolves into supernatural bliss".

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Beethoven to Prince Esterházy, July 26th 1807, in: Ludwig van Beethoven: Briefwechsel , Volume 1/291, Complete Edition, ed. by Sieghard Brandenburg, 7 volumes, Munich 1996-1998, p. 321
  2. ^ The Beethoven Sketchbooks. History, reconstruction, Inventory, ed. by Douglas Johnson, Alan Tyson and Robert Winter, Berkeley 1985
  3. ^ Anton Schindler: Biography of Ludwig van Beethoven, 2 volumes, Münster 1871; reprint Hildesheim etc. 1994, volume 1, p. 189
  4. ↑ Alexander Wheelock Thayer Ludwig van Beethoven's life in 5 volumes, edited in German by Hermann Deiters, revised by Hugo Riemann, 1866ff., Reprint Hildesheim-New York 1970, volume 3, p. 37
  5. ↑ Maynard Solomon: Beethoven, translated from the American by Ulrike von Putthammer, Munich 1979 (original edition: New York 1977), p. 456, note 15
  6. ↑ Alexander Wheelock Thayer: Thayer's Life of Beethoven , revised and ed. by Elliot Forbes, Princeton, NJ 1964
  7. ↑ a b E. TA Hoffmann, concert reports, pp. 252–265, here p. 254