Missa Solemnis

Shows

A masterpiece of Beethoven's maturity, the Missa solemnis in D major op. 123 is also the richest and most complex work for choir and orchestra ever written by the author, together with the Ninth Symphony: with the latter it shares long years of gestation and second thoughts and a public baptism in 1824.

A mass that is unlike any other, the fruit of very personal research on Flemish and archaic music, in search of an authentic sacred language, far from both opera and classical style, studied by Beethoven on every word of ordinary Latin to exalt its deepest meaning. A titanic struggle of the composer with himself, his doubts and limits, the conventions of a time torn between reason and faith, to raise a sincere song that – as he wrote in the score – “From the heart can go to the hearts”.

The result, disconcerting and monumental, places it among the absolute peaks for any great orchestra and choir that tries its hand at it. In 50 years of history as a permanent ensemble, the Orchestra and Choir of the Arena Foundation are tackling the Missa solemnis for the first time, for the occasion under the direction of Wolfram Christ, already legendary first viola of the Berliner Philharmoniker and a highly regarded conductor for years.