The Missa solemnis in D Major, Opus 123, is a Solemn Mass composed by Ludwig van Beethoven from 1819 to 1823. It was first performed in April 1824 in Saint Petersburg, Russia, under the auspices of Beethoven’s patron Prince Nikolai Galitzin; an incomplete performance was given in Vienna in 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 seetings of the common practice period. Written around the same time as his Ninth Symphony, it is Beethoven’s second setting of the Mass, after his Mass in C major, Opus 86. The work was dedicated to Archduke Rudolf of Austria, archbishop of Olmutz, Beethoven’s foremost patron as well as pupil and friend. The copy presented to Rudolf was inscribed “Von Herzen—Möge es wieder—Zu Herzen gehn!” (“From the heart – may it return to the heart!”).
Kyrie Eleison: Perhaps the most traditional movement, the Kyrie is in a traditional ABA′ structure. The grand opening 3 D major chords motif, contrasts sharply with the 4th pianissimo response: (GOD/man) followed by humble stately choral writing in the first section and more contrapuntal vocal textures in the Christe section. The four (SATB) vocal soloists and chorus share the thematic material throughout, the former particularly in the Christe Eleison section.
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. The movement ends with the first of the work’s two fugues, on the text “In gloria Dei patris. Amen”, leading into a recapitulation of the initial Gloria text and music
Credo: The movement opens with a chord sequence that will be used again in the movement to effect modulations. The word “Credo” is repeatedly sung in a two-note motif, and the work thus joins the tradition of so-called “Credo Masses”, including Mozart’s Miss Brevis and Mass in C major. 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 saeculi” 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♭; (II) “Et 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♭.
Sanctus: Up until the Benedictus of the Sanctus, the Missa solemnis is of fairly normal classical proportions. 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.
Agnus Dei: A setting of the plea “miserere nobis” (have mercy on us) that begins with the men’s voices alone in B minor yields, eventually, to a bright D major prayer “dona nobis pacem” (“grant us peace”) in a pastoral mode. 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 close.
