Paavo Järvi mit Beethovens Missa Solemnis

Beethoven's 'Missa solemnis' was first performed (in part) at the Kärntnerthortheater in Vienna in 1824, on the same evening that his Symphony No. 9 had its premiere. This work is almost exclusively presented in concert halls today: Although it is a solemn Mass, it does break the liturgical frame. Beethoven indeed studied intensively with the Mass text and older settings, but he composed this work not for a devout community, but for the Viennese audience. He aimed to evoke and sustain 'religious feelings' through all means of his art, as he expressed in a letter. That a critic afterwards praised his 'divine musical artistry' fits perfectly.