Understanding Beethoven’s Great Choral Work [] Lifelong Learning Program

We will spend a day getting familiar with the extraordinary music of what is probably Beethoven’s most ambitious work, the Missa Solemnis.  By using both printed music and Beethoven’s own manuscript, we will see that even though the printed music exceeds every parameter of complexity and strength of expression, viewing Beethoven’s own notation shows us how in his own handwriting he went into even greater detail to guide the exact expression he envisioned.  In the Missa Solemnis, because of the text of the mass, one gains particularly vivid insight into Beethoven’s overwhelming powers of expression and the detailed ways he could envision particular sounds from each member of the orchestra and chorus.  In the morning class, we will discuss the piece in overview, tracing the historical details of its creation and pointing out, by listening with the score, the most notable features of its five movements.  In the afternoon class, we will spend some time absorbing the musical treatment of the text of the Credo, and then we will listen to the entire work alternating between watching the printed score and the manuscript.  NOTE:  you do not need to read music to enjoy this course.

Nicholas Kitchen is a solo violinist and chamber musician.  He is Artistic Director of the Heifetz International Music Institute, as well as a Professor of Violin at the New England Conservatory. He has performed world-wide for the last 30 years as first violinist and founder of the award-winning Borromeo String Quartet, which is the faculty Quartet-in-Residence at New England Conservatory.  The New York Times has called Nicholas Kitchen “thrilling, vibrant, and captivating,” and named him one of the most active and innovative performers in the music world today.  Nick studied conducting at the Curtis Institute, and has conducted choruses and orchestras in masses and cantatas