BEETHOVEN
missa solemnis
sir georg solti conductor Helen Donath soprano Doris Soffel mezzo soprano Siegfried Jerusalem tenor Hans Sotin bass edinburgh festival chorus LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
A BBC recording
© Allan Warren
sir georg solti conductor Sir Georg Solti (1912–97) was one of the outstanding conductors of the second half of the 20th century, a charismatic leader of virtuoso orchestras in the central European tradition of Reiner, Ormandy and Szell. He was born in Budapest and educated at the Liszt Academy there, receiving instruction from Kodály in composition and from Dohnányi and Bartók in piano – an instrument he continued to play throughout his life. Solti’s early career was primarily in the opera house: he was in turn Musical Director of the Munich Staatsoper, General Director of Music in Frankfurt, and from 1961–71, Music Director of the Royal Opera in London. His many recordings included a Wagner Ring cycle that set new standards for the industry. In the field of symphonic music, he is best remembered for his period as Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1969– 91, which consistently produced performances of the utmost precision and brilliance.
However, Solti felt London to be his home, and he took British citizenship in 1972. Among the city’s concert orchestras, his closest association was with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, which he had first conducted as early as 1938 in a London season of the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo. He was appointed Principal Guest Conductor from 1971, and in 1979 succeeded Bernard Haitink as Principal Conductor and Artistic Director. His appointment was initially for three years, but it was extended by a year, to the end of the Orchestra’s Golden Jubilee season of 1982/83, before he gave way to Klaus Tennstedt. The relationship resulted in many performances of great intensity and impact, and after stepping down from his post, Solti was invited back to the Orchestra several times over the next few years. This performance of Beethoven’s Missa Solemis was given on 10 September 1982 at London’s Royal Albert Hall as part of the BBC Proms, in Solti’s final season as LPO Principal Conductor. Anthony Burton
beethoven missa solemnis 1 Kyrie 2 Gloria 3 Credo 4 Sanctus 5 Agnus Dei In the autumn of 1818 it came to Beethoven’s knowledge that the Archduke Rudolf of Austria, brother of the Emperor, was to be made Archbishop of Olmütz in Moravia. Rudolf had long been the composer’s friend, patron and pupil, and Beethoven resolved to compose a Mass for the enthronement ceremony. The Archduke’s election was officially announced in June 1819, and Beethoven wrote to him: ‘The day on which a Mass composed by me will be performed during the ceremonies solemnized for Your Imperial Highness will be the most glorious of my life, and God will enlighten me so that my poor talents may contribute to the glorification of that solemn day.’ There was true affection and respect between the two men; the Archduke had provided the composer with an annual pension since 1809, and Beethoven had dedicated to him some of his best works. The Mass was intended as the glorious crown of their relationship. Before setting to work Beethoven studied past church music, copied out some choruses from
Handel’s Messiah and had the Latin text of the Mass translated into German to ensure that he did not misunderstand any of it. By the middle of 1819 the sketching of the Missa Solemnis was well underway. Anton Schindler reported that he had never seen the composer so oblivious to all earthly matters. Visiting his summer quarters near Vienna with a friend that August, he found that both servants had fled after a quarrel and that Beethoven had had nothing to eat for 24 hours. ‘In the living room, which was locked, we heard the master singing parts of the fugue in the Credo – singing, howling, stamping.’ Trouble with servants was the least of Beethoven’s worries. Poor health limited the time he could devote to composition, and everything was overshadowed by a lawsuit concerning his nephew and ward, Karl. Moreover, the Mass did not take shape quite as Beethoven had expected. Each movement took on greater dimensions than originally planned. Consequently, the Mass was not finished in time for the Archbishop’s enthronement in March 1820. It took until December 1822 to complete. Having despatched a dedicated score to Rudolf, Beethoven offered copies for sale to various sovereigns and nobles. One subscriber, the Russian Prince Nicholas Galitsin, organised the
first performance, which took place in St Petersburg on 26 March 1824. The Kyrie, Credo and Agnus Dei were performed in Vienna on 7 May in the concert that introduced the Ninth Symphony. Beethoven was present but too deaf to hear a note. The first complete performance in Vienna did not take place until after his death. Beethoven was born into a Catholic family and never formally renounced the faith. He taught his nephew to pray, and he received the last rites on his deathbed. But he had little liking for organised religion, and churchmen responded by being suspicious of his Missa Solemnis, which was not really suited to liturgical use. He was, however, a religious man. He believed in God as an all-powerful, loving Father, a universal presence in nature and influence on human aspirations, real yet not to be truly comprehended by mankind. Instinctively he felt the immense majesty of a personal God and humanity’s dependence upon God’s love. These feelings, which may be sensed by the listener throughout the Mass, contribute to the awesome effect that the work makes. It is a sublime work expressing the personal faith of a confessed imperfect Christian. At the head of the first movement Beethoven wrote: ‘From the heart – may it in turn go to the heart!’
In striving to give his ideas musical form Beethoven could not study the performers’ convenience. Not only are the choral sopranos taken repeatedly up to A and even B, but all four sections of the choir are put under strain at the bottom of their range. Singers are required to phrase with the rhythmic precision and attack of an orchestral instrument, to sustain long passages at uncomfortable pitches and to get tongues round many syllables at extremes of pitch.
KYRIE The Missa Solemnis is not divided into separate numbers but composed as five essentially symphonic movements. Soloists and choir alternate according to the needs of the text, the former usually standing as individuals making personal utterances while the chorus represents the mass of humanity. The text largely determines the shape of each movement. So the three-part text of the Kyrie dictates a ternary musical scheme. The first Kyrie, marked ‘With devotion’, is in D major and 4/4 time. A solitary voice three times echoes the choir as though to emphasise the personal significance of the general prayer. The time changes to 3/2 for Christe eleison in related B minor. Here the soloists precede the choir, pairing off after a while in companionable thirds symbolising Christ walking with man as friend and helper. The second Kyrie is addressed to the Holy Spirit, so the reprise of the initial music is varied, the voices entering in a new key, G major.
GLORIA The first part of the Gloria glorifies God, the second is concerned with sinful mankind seeking Christ’s mercy, and the third makes
a synthesis of the first two. Beethoven’s strenuous setting is full of sharp contrasts. It begins in D major with a great shout of praise to a theme driven irresistibly. The plea for peace is hushed, but the praise quickly resumes and glorificamus te becomes a fugato, ending with a sustained burst of C major. The key modulates to B flat for the lyrical Gratias agimus, which brings in the soloists. The initial tempo and mood return at Domine Deus, and the words Deus Pater omnipotens (‘God the Father almighty’) occasion a triple-forte climax with the first use of trombones in the work. Domine Fili is marked by the return of the thirds from the middle section of the Kyrie. In the second section of the movement (beginning at Qui tollis), prayers to Christ are again set with the soloists’ harmony in thirds. Word setting in this Larghetto in F is especially expressive. A tempo change to Allegro maestoso marks the start of the final section (Quoniam). This is another great hymn of praise, culminating in a four-part fugue on a theme derived from the Kyrie. At the end the opening theme returns at presto tempo, and the choir glorifies God with repeated shouts of the first word.
CREDO The text of the Creed, setting forth the fundamental Christian beliefs, divides into three sections and thereby suggests a ternary musical form, but Beethoven divides his three parts differently to provide two massive assertions of faith enclosing a more intimate account of Christ’s birth, crucifixion and resurrection. He makes the Credo stand out musically between the D major movements on either side by setting it in the key of B flat. A sturdy theme proclaims belief in one God, the choral sopranos rising to a sustained fortissimo B flat at omnipotentem. For Et incarnatus est, which opens the central section, the tempo changes to Adagio and the key to D minor with archaic modal harmony. As all four soloists sing of the Virgin birth the strings are reduced and a flute flutters high above, representing the dove that was a symbol of the Holy Spirit in religious paintings. The music moves into D major at Et homo factus est, the solo tenor and choir dwelling on the word homo, filled with wonder at the thought of Christ made man. Without pause the music continues with a meditation on Christ’s crucifixion and burial and the choir’s unaccompanied
proclamation – in the old Mixolydian mode – of the resurrection. Mention of Christ coming to ‘judge both the quick and the dead’ brings a reference by the trombones to the Last Trump. The opening Credo theme is recapitulated to the movement’s concluding words. What especially seizes Beethoven here is the expectation of ‘the life of the world to come’, and he makes these words – Et vitam venturi – the basis of a mighty, technically ingenious double fugue.
SANCTUS For Beethoven the thought of God as Lord God of Hosts is a moment for reverent obeisance and awe. Soft trombones emphasise the solemnity, and the words are given to soloists rather than the choir. This opening B minor passage is marked ‘Adagio with devotion’. Joy breaks out in a D major fugato at Pleni sunt coeli (‘Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory’), and the following Osanna. Solemnity returns in an orchestral prelude to Benedictus, which Beethoven incorporates in the movement instead of
setting separately. At this point in the church service believers hold that bread and wine have been transformed into the body and blood of Christ. Beethoven’s musical illustration introduces a solo violin and two flutes, which descend from high aloft. ‘Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord’, the basses intone, and the violin symbolises the Divine presence in a G major solo, which continues through the subsequent vocal entries. After a repeat of Osanna the violin solo resumes and ascends to the regions whence it came.
AGNUS DEI The final section of the Mass begins with a prayer to Christ for forgiveness. The key is dark B minor and the instrumental colours are sombre, with bassoons and horns prominent. The solo bass begins the threefold prayer, and gradually the other voices join him. This leads to Dona nobis pacem, which the composer names as a prayer for inward and outward peace. The key turns to D major and the tempo quickens for this double fugue, but ominously martial sounds break in and the singers reiterate their first prayer urgently. Beethoven
knew the horrors of war at first hand, and peace meant for him freedom from war as well as achieving spiritual serenity. Dona nobis is resumed, but again the noise of war interrupts in B minor, prompting an anguished cry of Agnus Dei. Once more the prayer for peace is offered up. The trumpets have now fallen silent, but there is a reminder of distant drums before the close, making the end of the Mass truly though calmly prayerful. Programme note © Eric Mason
beethoven missa solemnis 01 KYRIE Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison.
02 GLORIA Gloria in excelsis Deo. Et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis. Laudamus te, benedicimus te, adoramus te, glorificamus te. Gratias agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam tuam. Domine Deus, Rex coelestis, Deus Pater omnipotens. Domine Fili unigenite, Jesu Christe. Domine Deus, Agnus Dei, Filius Patris. Qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis. Qui tollis peccata mundi, suscipe deprecationem nostram. Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris, miserere nobis. Quoniam tu solus sanctus, Tu solus Dominus, Tu solus altissimus, Jesu Christe. Cum Sancto Spiritu in gloria Dei Patris. Amen.
Lord, have mercy, Christ, have mercy, Lord, have mercy.
Glory be to God on high. And on earth peace to men of good will. We praise Thee, we bless Thee, We worship Thee, we glorify Thee. We give thanks to Thee for Thy great glory. Lord God, heavenly king, God the Father almighty. Lord the only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father. Thou that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us. Thou that takest away the sins of the world, receive our prayer. Thou that sittest at the right hand of the Father, have mercy upon us. For Thou only art holy, Thou only art the Lord, Thou only art most high, Jesus Christ. With the Holy Ghost in the glory of God the Father. Amen.
03 CREDO Credo in unum Deum, Patrem omnipotentem, Factorem coeli et terrae, Visibilium et invisibilium. Credo in unum Dominum Jesum Christum, Filium Dei unigenitum, et ex Patre natum ante omnia saecula. Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine, Deum verum de Deo vero, genitum non factum consubstantialem Patri, per quem omnia facta sunt; Qui propter nos homines, et propter nostram salutem descendit de coelis. Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine; et homo factus est. Crucifixus etiam pro nobis sub Pontio Pilato. Passus et sepultus est. Et resurrexit tertia die secundum Scripturas; et ascendit in coelum, sedet ad dexteram Dei Patris, et iterum venturus est cum gloria judicare vivos et mortuos, cujus regni non erit finis. Credo in Spiritum Sanctum, Dominum et vivificantem, qui ex Patre Filioque procedit,
I believe in one God, The Father almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, Of all things visible and invisible. I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all worlds. God of God, light of light, true God of true God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made; Who for us men, and for our salvation came down from heaven. And was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary; and was made man. He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried. And the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father and He shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end. I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son,
qui cum Patre et Filio simul adoratur et conglorificatur, qui locutus est per Prophetas. Credo in unam sanctam Catholicam et Apostolicam Ecclesiam. Confiteor una baptisma in remissionem peccatorum. Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum, et vitam venturi saeculi. Amen.
who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, who spake by the Prophets. I believe in one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins. And I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
04 SANCTUS Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth, Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria tua. Osanna in excelsis. Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. Osanna in excelsis.
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts, Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
05 AGNUS DEI Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis. Dona nobis pacem.
Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us. Grant us peace.
HELEN DONATH soprano
DORIS SOFFEL mezzo soprano
Helen Donath is one of the greatly admired lyric sopranos of her age, noted for her pure timbre and interpretive powers, as well as her vocal longevity. She is equally adept on the opera stage, in recital, and in oratorio. Like many singers of her generation, she fell in love with opera through the Mario Lanza film The Great Caruso. She first studied music at Del Mar College in her hometown of Corpus Christi, Texas, at the age of 14, and later with Paola Novikova in New York, where she made her concert debut in 1958.
One of today’s leading performers of Wagner and Strauss, mezzo soprano Doris Soffel sang Fricka (Das Rheingold and Die Walküre) in Bayreuth with Sir George Solti in 1983. She has enjoyed international success in operas including Carmen, La clemenza di Tito, Così fan tutte, La Cenerentola, Norma, Der Rosenkavalier, Ariadne auf Naxos, Don Carlo, Aida, Khovanshchina and Rusalka.
She made her opera debut at the Cologne Opera in 1962 in the role of Inez in Verdi’s Il trovatore. In 1966 she joined the Munich Staatsoper as a guest artist, beginning a long association with that house. During the 1960s she also became a protégé of Herbert von Karajan. In 1970 she made her Salzburg Festival debut as Pamina in Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Her US opera debut was in 1971 as Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier, and in 1979 she first appeared at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, as Anne Trulove in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress. Until her return to the United States in the early 1990s, the majority of her career took place in Germany and Austria, and she was awarded the title of Kammersängerin.
Her Wagner roles include Ortrud (Lohengrin), Brangäne (Tristan und Isolde), Kundry (Parsifal), Venus (Tannhäuser), Waltraute (Götterdämmerung) and Fricka, as well as the Wesendonck Lieder. Her Strauss roles include Clairon (Capriccio), Amme (Die Frau ohne Schatten), Herodias (Salome) and Clytemnestra (Elektra). Doris Soffel has appeared at festivals including Bayreuth, Salzburg and Munich, and at opera and concert houses in Vienna, Dresden, Zurich, St Petersburg, Milan, Venice, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, London, Brussels, Amsterdam, Stockholm, New York, Buenos Aires, Tokyo and Beijing. She has worked with conductors including Herbert von Karajan, Sergiu Celibidache, Carlo Maria Giulini, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Klaus Tennstedt, Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Christian Thielemann, Daniele Gatti, Kent Nagano, Daniel Barenboim and Sir Simon Rattle.
Siegfried Jerusalem tenor
hans sotin bass
Siegfried Jerusalem was born in Oberhausen in Germany and studied music at the Folkwangschule in Essen. From 1961–77 he was an orchestral bassoonist. He began taking singing lessons in 1971, and in 1975 stood in for Franco Bonisolli in a television production of Johann Strauss’s The Gypsy Baron, which launched his singing career. He made his debut at the Bayreuth Festival in 1977 as Froh in Das Rheingold and the young sailor in Tristan and Isolde. He first performed at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin in 1978 as Tamino in The Magic Flute. Further engagements took him to Vienna, New York (Metropolitan Opera), New Orleans, Milan (La Scala), Paris, London, Cologne, Geneva, Chicago, San Francisco, San Diego, Toronto, Washington and many other cities.
Hans Sotin made his operatic debut in 1962 as the Police Commissioner (Der Rosenkavalier) in Essen and became a principal member of the Hamburg State Opera in 1964, singing not only traditional roles but creating new roles in works by Blacher, Einem and Penderecki. In 1970 he made his British debut at Glyndebourne Festival Opera as Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte) and this was followed by debuts at Chicago Lyric Opera as the Grand Inquisitor (Don Carlos) and at the Bayreuth Festival as the Landgrave (Tannhäuser). He has sung at the Metropolitan Opera, New York; the Vienna State Opera; La Scala, Milan; and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
He made countless recordings including Violanta, Švanda the Bagpiper and the Ring Cycle, all of which won Grammy Awards. In 1997 the German President Roman Herzog presented him with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. Siegfried Jerusalem sang for the last time in Bayreuth in 1999. Since then he has embraced new activities, taking on a professorship at the new College of Music in Nuremberg in 2000 and becoming Director of the College in 2001.
Hans Sotin’s portrayals of Tannhäuser, Lohengrin, and Gurnemanz (Parsifal) at the 1993 Bayreuth Festival elicited critical accolades. In addition to his varied operatic repertoire, Sotin has won distinction for his concert repertoire, most particularly in performances of the music of J.S. Bach, Haydn, Beethoven, and Mahler.
EDINBURGH FESTIVAL CHORUS The Edinburgh Festival Chorus has been at the heart of the Edinburgh International Festival since its foundation in 1965, when it opened the 19th Festival with the Scottish premiere of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8. Under the Festival Director’s programming the Chorus has become increasingly versatile, performing most of the standard 19th- and 20thcentury repertoire and premieres of specially commissioned works with many of the world’s leading orchestras and conductors. Recent concerts include Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky with Valery Gergiev and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with Mariss Jansons and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Scriabin’s Symphony No. 1 with Mikhail Pletnev and the Russian National Orchestra, Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem with David Zinman and the Tonhalle Orchestra, and Verdi’s Requiem with Donald Runnicles and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. The Chorus has also occasionally performed outside of the Festival and most recently joined the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and its Chief Conductor Donald Runnicles at the 2010 BBC Proms performing Mahler’s Symphony No. 3; in February 2011 for two performances of Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem for the
Orchestra’s 75th Anniversary season; at the 2011 BBC Proms for a performance of Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé; and in March 2012 for two performances of Brahms’s Alto Rhapsody.
London Philharmonic orchestra May each year. In summer, the Orchestra moves to Sussex where it has been Resident at Glyndebourne Festival Opera for 50 years. The Orchestra also performs at venues around the UK and has made numerous tours to America, Europe and Japan, and visited India, Hong Kong, China, South Korea, Australia, South Africa and Abu Dhabi. The London Philharmonic Orchestra made its first recordings on 10 October 1932, just three days after its first public performance. It has recorded and broadcast regularly ever since, and in 2005 established its own record label. These recordings are taken mainly from live concerts given by conductors including LPO Principal Conductors from Beecham and Boult, through Haitink, Solti and Tennstedt, to Masur and Jurowski. lpo.org.uk
© Patrick Harrison
The London Philharmonic Orchestra is known as one of the world’s great orchestras with a reputation secured by its performances in the concert hall and opera house, its many award-winning recordings, its trail-blazing international tours and its pioneering education work. Distinguished conductors who have held positions with the Orchestra since its foundation in 1932 by Sir Thomas Beecham include Sir Adrian Boult, Sir John Pritchard, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt, Franz Welser-Möst and Kurt Masur. Vladimir Jurowski was appointed the Orchestra’s Principal Guest Conductor in March 2003 and became Principal Conductor in September 2007. The London Philharmonic Orchestra has been Resident Symphony Orchestra at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall since 1992 and there it presents its main series of concerts between September and
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‘This meld of orchestra, chorus and soloists is moving and magnificent.’ The Independent
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‘With ravishing orchestral playing and fine singing, this is a performance not to be missed.’ Classic FM
LUDWIG van beethoven (1770–1827)
79:33
Missa Solemnis
01 10:02 Kyrie 02 17:53 Gloria 03 20:03 Credo 04 15:25 Sanctus 05 16:10 Agnus Dei
sir georg solti conductor Helen Donath soprano Doris Soffel mezzo soprano Siegfried Jerusalem tenor Hans Sotin bass edinburgh festival chorus LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA Ronald Thomas guest leader John Currie chorus master Recorded live at the ROYAL ALBERT HALL, London
LPO – 0077