Beethoven's Sublime Mass in C Major

It is exactly a week now, since I started blogging. I am happy to know that my Posts are being appreciated by Classical Music and Sacred Choral Music Fans in Cyberspace.

Today, I am focusing on Ludwig Van Beethoven's "Sublime Mass in C Major".

It seems that Beethoven composed this Mass for the Birthday of Princess Marie von Liechtenstein -- Wife of Prince Nikolaus Esterhazy (II).

This is a Sublime Mass which needs a lot of concentration to appreciate it.

It was initially not appreciated for quite some time by Prince Nikolaus Esterhazy and this upset Beethoven to a large extent.

Check out these awesome Links for more information on this Sublime Mass composed by Beethoven.

1) From: http://www.its.caltech.edu/~tan/BeethovenMissaSolemnis/massinc.html

The C Major Mass was commissioned by Prince Nikolaus Esterhazy (II) to commemorate the name day of his wife, Marie von Liechtenstein. Beethoven’s motivation for writing it, then, was less related to his own religious feeling. Because of this, the style of this mass was similar to that of Haydn’s masses. In fact, this commission was an annual Esterhazy custom fulfilled on six prior occasions by Haydn. The Mass in C, therefore, is not highly creative and is written in a static form.

Even some melodies have been more suggestive of Mozart or Gluck than Beethoven.Nevertheless, Beethoven put enough of his own style into his C Major Mass that he occasionally deviated from conformity to strict conventions. After the first performance of the Mass, the Prince reportedly said, "My dear Beethoven, what have you written there!", evidently in a condescending tone. Beethoven immediately became irritated by this, and he left the Prince’s court on the same day of the performance. The score was then dedicated to Prince Ferdinand Kinsky instead.

Read More at: http://www.its.caltech.edu/~tan/BeethovenMissaSolemnis/massinc.html

2) "For an All Comprehensive Perspective on Beethoven's Mass in C Major"

http://www.osscs.org/notes/beethoven_op86.html

3) Listen to this Mass in its entirety performed by "The Twin Cities Catholic Chorale" in Minneapolis"

'Mass in C by Ludwig van Beethoven Proper of the Mass'

http://www.stagnes.net/music-recordings-cd-beethoven.html

Enjoy and Let me know if you enjoyed reading this Post on Beethoven's Sublime Mass in C Major.