Course Description

Instructor: Sally Kann

Starts: Wednesday, October 6,  6 weeks

Time: 10-11AM   

Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis began as a personal religious quest. In 1818, deep in his late period, at the height of his powers, and recognized as the most progressive composer of his age, Beethoven set out to find 'the key to writing true church music'. Our class will discuss Beethoven’s compositional journey, as he translated text, analyzed ancient church music, pored over books of theory, and studied treatises on modes and counterpoint. All this during a period of terrible stress and torment: profound deafness, rancorous custody battles, and the attempted suicide of his nephew. And after five years work, he gave the world something truly remarkable: Missa Solemnis, universal religious ideas expressed fully, through the merging of music and text.