Beethoven: Missa Solemnis

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Cambridge University Press, Nov 29, 1991 - Music - 118 pages
The Missa Solemnis is a document of extraordinary richness from the last decades of Beethoven's creative life. In this accessible guide, William Drabkin considers the work as an 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.

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Contents

Composition performance and publication history
11
publication performance
17
Kyrie
31
Gloria
43
Credo
52
Sanctus
67
The second Osanna
80
The beginning of the Dona
87
37
91
The Coda
94
46
104
The Missa solemnis as programmatic music
117
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