Emmanuel Tjeknavorian © Lukas Beck
Wiener KammerOrchester / Wiener Singakademie / Tjeknavorian
Monday
12
June
2023
19:30 – ca. 21:15
Großer Saal
Presented by
Wiener Konzerthausgesellschaft
Mass and power
What on earth does Beethoven's Mass in C major have to do with his 5th
Symphony? The setting of the Catholic Ordinary of the Mass with the
apotheosis of political and individual freedom? No more, one could say,
than that both works»"met« each other in the composer's great academy on
December 22, 1808. On this memorable evening in the Theater an der
Wien, the rapidly deafening Beethoven not only performed publicly as a
pianist for the last time. In a marathon four-hour concert, he also
launched his 5th and 6th Symphonies, his 4th Piano Concerto, and the
Choral Fantasy op. 80. In each of the two halves of the concert, one
movement from the Mass in C major was performed: the Gloria in the first
part, the Sanctus in the second. Emmanuel Tjeknavorian can therefore
refer to this historical event when he places both works on the program
of this concert of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra. A certain commonality
also results from the incomprehension and rejection that Beethoven's
music often met with among his contemporaries. With the Mass in
particular, the revolutionary-minded artist so enraged his patron
Nicholas II Esterházy that the latter was carried away to a less than
noble outburst: »Beethoven's Mass is unbearably ridiculous and atrocious
[...], I am angry and ashamed.« A judgment that has survived along with
the noble predicate thrown into the scale.
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Program sheet