Beethoven: Missa Solemnis

William Drabkin considers Beethoven's Missa Solemnis as a musical expression of the most celebrated text of the Roman Catholic faith - the mass.

William Drabkin (Author)

9780521378314, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 29 November 1991

136 pages, 1 b/w illus.
21.6 x 13.8 x 0.8 cm, 0.2 kg

The Missa Solemnis is a document of extraordinary richness from the last decades of Beethoven's creative life. In this compendious and accessible guide, William Drabkin considers the work as a musical expression of the most celebrated text of the Roman Catholic faith and as an example from a tradition of Mass settings in eighteenth and early nineteenth-century Austria. The opening chapters present various critical perspectives on the Missa Solemnis and chart the history of its composition, first performances and publication. But, above all, the work itself is considered in detail, including the overall design, connections between the movements, the orchestration, word painting and programmatic elements.

Preface
1. Critical perspectives
2. Composition, performance and publication history
3. Preliminaries to the analysis
4. Kyrie
5. Gloria
6. Credo
7. Sanctus
8. Agnus Dei
9. Concluding thoughts.

Subject Areas: Individual composers & musicians, specific bands & groups [AVH]