Klaus Mäkelä
Oslo Philharmonic Choir Ludvig van Beethoven

When Ludwig van Beethoven started work on his Missa solemnis in 1819, the plan was to complete it in time for a grand occasion in 1820. However, it proved to be a much more demanding project than he had imagined. The mass was finally completed in 1823, and it was premiered in St Petersburg on 7 April 1824, exactly one month prior to the premiere of his Symphony No. 9 in Vienna.

Beethoven had great ambitions for his mass, and it was difficult to find good patterns to follow from other composers. Missa solemnis turned out to be a mass that was completely out of the ordinary: a type of magnificent choral symphony in five movements. Although it was somewhat overshadowed by his Ninth Symphony, Beethoven himself described it many times as his finest work. On the score, he wrote: “From the heart – may it return to the heart!”