Opening Concert – Missa solemnis – Beethoven 250
RIAS Kammerchor & René Jacobs

GALA Choral Concert

Friday, 17 July 2020
7.30 pm, Saanen Church

Although he was not a diligent churchgoer, Beethoven always showed sincere faith. When he felt his body failing him, he turned both inward – his complete deafness was diagnosed around 1820 – and upward. In 1818, the prospect of the investiture of his beloved protector Rudolf of Austria as Archbishop of Olmütz prompted him to embrace the composition of a Mass of colossal proportions that he had long been thinking about. His poor health combined with the dizzying height of his ambition prevented him from completing this Missa Solemnis in time. Indeed, he was not to deliver it to Rudolph until 1823. But what a monumental piece! He was particularly keen to assimilate the legacy of Bach and especially Handel, whom he considered to be the greatest composer of all time.