“From the heart, may it find its way to hearts,” this was the creative desire Beethoven expressed over the opening bars of the Kyrie movement of the Missa solemnis, and this heartfelt wish can only be fulfilled in the strict sense of the word when the performers gathered to perform this work, which is grand in every respect and demands commitment from both artists and audiences, are as accomplished as ones we have this evening, with András Keller conducting at the beginning of the Beethoven bicentenary.

The mass, originally intended for the installation of the composer’s pupil, patron and friend, the Archduke Rudolf as Archbishop of Olomouc in 1820, who not only missed the festive ceremony (since it was only completed in 1823), but its significance, even at the moment of its creation, grew far beyond its purely denominational character as church music written for a specific occasion.

This is vividly demonstrated by the fact that the first full performance of the massive work ultimately took place in 1824 before a devoutly Orthodox St. Petersburg audience that nevertheless held Beethoven’s work in great esteem. And in its sublimity, the Missa solemnis has ever since lived up to the description given by Beethoven himself, always gazing into the ultimate questions of existence, as “the greatest work I ever wrote.”