Missa Solemnis

Composed between 1819 and 1823, Ludwig van Beethoven himself considered his Missa solemnis to be his most significant work. Although bound by the liturgy, Beethoven succeeded in transforming it into a personal humanistic statement: Like in his 9th Symphony and his opera Fidelio, he calls for the utopia of a better world. In view of the drama of his time – a Europe destroyed by the Napoleonic Wars and a period of fragile peace – it is a deeply personal work.