NOTE: Throughout the article you will be able to access different contents that link to the author's explanation.
Beethoven's baptism is documented. The certificate is dated December 17, 1770. As the custom was to baptize the child the day after his birth, his 250th birthday is celebrated on the 16th. What does not seem to be recorded is his ascription to some kind of Freemasonry.
Beethoven's sacred works include three major works: the oratorio Jesus on the Mount of OlivesOp. 85; the Mass in C major, Op. 86 and the Mass in C major, Op. 86 and the Missa solemnis in D major, Op. 123. For the neophytes: according to Beethoven himself, his main work, the greatest, the most accomplished, is not any of his symphonies (the Fifth, the Ninth...), or any of his concertos, or his only opera (Fidelio), but the Missa solemnis. Therefore, my attempt in these pages is to focus on it.
In Context
Sacred music, and more specifically true liturgical music, must be an exegesis of the Mystery. Since it can go further than words, music is able to draw us deeper into the fullness and intimacy of Christ present in the liturgy. The question to be asked then is: what does it say Beethoven's sacred production?
Our protagonist did not go beyond elementary school. However, he is known to have become an assiduous reader of the classics and of the writers of his time, Kant among others. What synthesis would he reach in his head with a Catholic childhood, but without the critical capacity that deeper studies bring, with such readings... and with the revolution occupying Vienna?
J.S. Bach and the Baroque are only 1750 behind us; Mozart is only 14 years older than Beethoven; Schubert, though younger than him, dies almost at the same time; and the musical language has changed in its fundamentals. Moreover, Bach knew his liturgy (Lutheran), but can it be said that Beethoven, averse to the clergy and anything that sounded like an institutional church, knew his? It is necessary to know that Schubert, when he wrote the Credo in his Masses, he skips some phrases. Beethoven does not go to this extreme, but it is important to know where he wants to go. This is the question. Let's not forget that Beethoven is a master because of his way of sayingknows how to say what he wants to say.
Sacred work
Coming from his native Bonn, Beethoven arrived in Vienna in 1792, where he settled until his death (1827). He arrived to study with F.J. Haydn. In 1796, the first symptoms of his hearing condition, the tragedy of a deaf musician (!). In 1802-1803 he understands that one day he will lose his hearing completely. It is the time of Heiligenstadt's heartbreaking testament, in which he declares his intention to take his own life, and of the composition of his oratorio, Jesus on the Mount of Olives.
In it, Beethoven peacefully follows the Viennese taste of the time. For some it is conventional. Some consider it a self-portrait. Personally, I prefer to see the work of someone who knows the pain and looks at himself in the Jesus of Gethsemane (click here to listen to the piece). During the author's lifetime, it had quite a few replicas, with relative success among the public, but not so much among the critics. In its favor is the English conductor Sir Simon Rattle, who considers it a fascinating challenge. Nowadays, the last passages of this oratorio have achieved a certain popularity, transformed into a Hallelujah.
The Beethoven who emerged from this difficult period declared that he had already undertaken a new wayThe composer is now at the center of his works. The composer is now at the center of his works. It is the period of the Symphony n. 3, Heroicfrom the Piano Sonata Appassionata and the Mass in C major (1807). This was commissioned by Prince Nikolaus Esterházy. The prince, perhaps accustomed to the style of a conservative Haydn, of whom he had been a patron, declared himself to be "angry and confused" with this work. Beethoven, however, was satisfied with the work when he wrote to the publisher: "I don't want to say anything about my Mass, but I think I treated the text as rarely." (Listen here to Op. 86).
– Supernatural Missa solemnis
Around 1815, Beethoven experienced another moment of crisis from which, once again, he emerged vigorous to face his last compositional period, in which he wrote works of incomparable thickness. To this period belong some quartets, the Ninth Symphony and the Missa solemnis. His compositional resources are all ready and his deafness will be at its peak.
A well-known social thinker and musicologist has devoted part of his work to Beethoven's musical criticism. It is public that, for years, he has been working on a classification of the works of our protagonist. But his attempts have repeatedly run aground in the face of one and the same obstacle, the Missa solemnis. It was always outside the mold of his criteria, no matter how rich and elaborate they were. After many turns, what was to be expected happened: he ended up being scandalized by the very existence of this work.
The occasion of the Missa was the news that Archduke Rudolf of Habsburg, Beethoven's pupil and protector, was to be consecrated bishop of Olmütz. The composer began work on it in 1818, with the intention of being able to premiere it for the occasion in March 1820. "The day my solemn Mass is performed for the feast of His Royal Highness, it will be the happiest of my life and God will enlighten me so that my feeble abilities contribute to the glorification of this solemn day.". The scope of the composition was overwhelming and the archduke himself reassured Beethoven, encouraging him to complete his work without haste. The score was completed in 1822 (!). Vienna was able to hear it partially on May 7, 1824, in a memorable concert in which the Ninth Symphony was also premiered. Under the name of hymnswere performed on Kyriethe Credo and the Agnus Dei.
It is said that the Missa solemnis is not liturgical. An obvious parameter is its excessive duration. The good sense of liturgical norms demands a proportionate time for the music with respect to the celebration. Rather than entering into this discussion, my purpose is to offer some clues to help listen to something other than a monumental mountain of notes and, above all, to see what is intended to say this music. I will rely on a classic study by professor and friend Warren Kirkendale.
"Frau von Weissenthurn would like to know something about the ideas on which you are basing the composition of your Mass.". It is a phrase that is read in the Conversation notebooks -which Beethoven used to communicate with the sharpening of his deafness - in December 1819, when there was already a great deal of talk about the Missa not yet completed. The answer is not known, but it provokes a rapprochement with the Missa with the tools of musical rhetoric. I propose some considerations on the Gloria and the Credo in this line.
In the Gloriasome of the gestures prescribed by the rubrics have their endorsement in the musical rhetoric, as for example, the very beginning Gloria in excelsis Deo (here the exact moment). Pierre Le Brun (Explanation of the priesthood and ceremonies of the Messe1716) explains that, when pronouncing these words, the priest raises his hands with the sense of Regrets 3, 41: "Levemus corda nostra cum manibus ad Dominum in caelos".. The gesture invites us to lift our hearts to God, while the music underlines it with a anabasisthat is, the entire melody rises in a festive tone and remains in the high register. -C'est un geste que l'amour des choses celestes a toujours fait faire, pour montrer qu'on voudroit les embrasser et les posseder."Le Brun explains, "to descend to the grave by praying et in terra pax hominibus.
Shortly thereafter, at Adoramus tewhere the rubrics prescribe a gesture of adoration-head bowing or genuflection, depending on the location-Beethoven changes the dynamic-from the fortissimo at pianissimo- and the pitch of the melody down to the bass, as he had done to the et in terra.
It is then that Beethoven stops to give delightful emphasis - as J. Ratzinger does in our days, while still a cardinal - to the gratias agimus tibiMusic delights in thanking God for his very being, his very glory.
Next, Beethoven emphasizes the power of God Pater omnipotens in a more vehement way than is traditional. On the one hand -always on the word omnipotens-The melody was played with a descending leap (an octave), which Beethoven amplified even more (a twelfth!). It was a powerful gesture, typical of heroic opera. On the other hand, the composer has reserved the entrance of the trombones, for the first time, in fortissimo, until this very moment. It is known that Beethoven added these trombones after he had finished the composition.
Let's leave the Gloria to get into the Credowhich we will deal with in more detail. The same trombones of the omnipotens from Gloria will also resonate in the judicare from Credoto underline once again the power of God. But let's go over it from the beginning.
Given the brevity of the text on the articles referring to the Father, it is immediately striking that the same music from the Credo in unum Deum is repeated in the Credo in unum Dominum Iesum Christum (listen to it here). And later also, in the article on the Holy Spirit. Faith in each Person is first presented by the orchestra - operatic prerogative for gods and kings - and reproposed by the voices. In this play, the word Credowhich in the precise formula is implicit for the Son and the Holy Spirit, is made explicit in both cases. Near the end, it will be discovered that Beethoven uses this motif whenever faith is to be expressed, also in the last items.
From the Father and the Son it is possible to highlight how the acoustic mass decreases as the invisibilium and to the ante omnia saeculashowing reverential awe before eternity and the Mystery of God.
This December's 250th birthday, with Christmas approaching, invites us to dwell on one of the most significant moments: Et incarnatus est. I propose it from the hand of a mature Gardiner - now in a concert hall, the Royal Albert Hall in London - in a three-minute excerpt, which spans from Qui propter nostram salutem to Et homo factus est (listen to the piece here).
The pious tone of Qui propter contrasts with the descendit de coelis. The melody of the descendit is a catabasisevolves from high to low, to regain the high tessitura in de coelis. A descending orchestral interlude prepares for the Et incarnatus est, the kenosis effective. It is then that a chord provokes the novelty. A subtle change opens a new acoustic universe, crystalline, serene, spacious, peaceful... (A parenthesis for the connoisseur: we are in Dorian mode, that is to say, like a D minor with the sixth degree raised and without sensitive). Beethoven seeks the language of one of the old ecclesiastical modes, which the history of music had banished two centuries earlier. The effect is a new look and a new character. Beethoven has purposely studied the chant. "of the monks", "in order to write true church music." (from Beethoven's diary, 1818, quoted by Kirkendale). The new language tastes differentAnd why the Dorian mode, and not another of the ancient modes? Because each mode carries a character, and the Dorian mode is the mode of chastity. The virginal conception is heard in the very language used.
If I said that this Et incarnatus est is significant is because the above statements -and others I have not dwelt on- are documented and show Beethoven's intentionality, which is what we are interested in.
One detail adds charm to the scene. At of Spiritu Sancto, a high-pitched flute trill. It does so in the successive repetitions, not the first time, when the men's voices are still singing alone. This trill -added by Beethoven a posteriorias the trombones to the omnipotens- represents the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove hovering over the Virgin. Becoming sound, it bears fruit, as the prophet Isaiah writes: "As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there, but only after soaking the earth, and making it fruitful and germinate, that it may yield seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall the word be that goes forth from my mouth: it shall not return to me void, but it shall fulfill my desire and carry out my commission." (Is 55:10-11).
The Dorian mode is transformed back to D major - the main key of the Missa- from the first note of the Et homo factus est. It sounds brilliant and is able to convey not only the initial celebration of the incarnation of the Word, but also a contemplative moment. Beethoven seems to want to say, "Don't you see? It has become man. He has become one of us!"
To Crucifixus again changing its character, becoming dark, to burst with joy in Et resurrexit and to be redefined in a new anabasis at Et ascendit in coelum.
Two more elements of this Credo. The latest articles of faith, from Et in Spiritum Sanctum from now on, they are frequently discussed. The agility with which they are presented is often taken as proof of Beethoven's indifference to them, of Beethoven's reticent Beethoven. In several cases, they appear in a swift quasi-recitative, sung by one part of the chorus, while two other voices repeat a recognizable Credo, credo and the orchestra plays at high volume. It is not easy to hear the main message. On the contrary, Kirkendale prefers to think that Beethoven considers these items out of the question and with his formulation intends to reject any kind of doubt before them.
The discourse changes in the last sentence: hope in the resurrection and eternal life. Given the length of the Credo up to this point, one might think: Beethoven should have been content with the brilliance he confers on the Et exspecto and having finished with the Amen corresponding. Far from their intention. With the Amen starts a highly commented fugue of about seven minutes in length -this is the second element-. Beethoven, who made us contemplate that Christ had become man, now wants to reveal the meaning of the resurrection and eternal life. Gloria something similar had occurred, proposing another monumental fugue to manifest the taste of God's glory (listen to it here). Incidentally, the main subject of this fugue is a quotation from the Messiah by Handel, an author greatly admired by Beethoven.
In conclusion
This music must be experienced.
If Beethoven claimed to have treated the text like no one else in his Mass in C major, how much more so in this one. Musical rhetoric has been the instrument for expand each concept. Gloria y Credo can be thought of as two monumental mosaics that weave their unity through interludes, contrasting episodes and recurring motifs.
Our social scholar, who had tried to get the social sciences to enter into the Missa solemnis in its formal schemes -sonata-form, variations, fugue-, he finds that it does not fit. The Missa It overflows any form, because it looks at the text and interprets it. Now, in view of the liturgy, the fundamental question remains on the table: is Beethoven's method sufficient to be able to affirm that a music of the ordinary of the Mass is exegesis of the MysteryWhat is the difference between Beethoven's way and, for example, Verdi's way in his Requiem Masswhich is not liturgical either? Beethoven was preparing the Missa for four and a half years of intense work. He used the archduke's library to prepare himself on all fronts: ancient musical language, music theorists, Palestrina's polyphony, theology and liturgy... Anton Schindler testifies to having seen his friend transformed during the period in which he worked at the Missa. But was all this enough?
Finally, for the consumer, quality products are not immediate. Their taste is conquered, like the taste of beer. Hasty assessments of music can be misleading. Musical training is necessary in order not to be swept away by the attractiveness of the pastoral success without foundation. This is what the liturgical norms propose... with great sense.
