DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (May 22, 2020)
Today, We compare Beethoven’s settings of the final lines of the Credo (We believe!) section in the Mass.
The first Council of Nicea took place in 325 A.D., and was the first effort to attain consensus in the church through an assembly representing all of Christendom. The Credo, emerged through the construction of the Nicene Creed, which established a unity of religion, poetic intention, scientific thinking, and Platonic philosophy. That unity is established through the rigorous use of metaphor. Contrary to some modern opinion, the recognition of Scripture as poetry does not suggest that it can be interpreted arbitrarily—as if it was just a matter of opinion. The opposite! It requires an even more rigorous level of thinking.
The final lines of the Credo are:
Et exspécto resurrectiónem mortuórum,
(And we await the resurrection of the dead,)
et vitam ventúri sǽculi. Amen
(and the life of the world to come. Amen)
It can have a literal religious meaning, in the sense of the Bible's, expression the idea of eternal life, of Heaven, of our immortality:
The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and
We shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption and
This mortal must put on immortality. (I Corinthians 15:52-53)
However, to someone of a different faith, or even to an atheist, that passage can have profound meaning as a scientific idea, by suggesting that we actually do resurrect the dead by continuing their good works, by assuring that they did not sacrifice themselves in vain, and that: their works do follow them. The life of the world to come, may also refer to the future: that in our deeds today, we lay the basis for future generations. How many immigrants sacrificed so that their grandchildren might have a better life? Do we not resurrect them, when we give meaning to their sacrifice, by contributing to the future?
The word Amen is often repeated without understanding its meaning. It is translated as So Be It! not, so is it, or so will it become, or so should it be but, So Be It! This is the subjunctive mood, which expresses a commitment to bring a better future state into existence, as in Thy will BE done, on Earth, as it is in Heaven! Translations in other languages also employ the subjunctive mood.
These philosophical/poetic/scientific meanings, and the religious meaning are not contradictory. Metaphor is an idea that holds true in different realms.
Now, let us examine the settings.
1. Early: Since Beethoven only set the Mass twice, we will give our early example in a setting by his former teacher, Josef Haydn. That is legitimate. When preparing his first Mass in C, Beethoven studied the masses of Haydn in depth, and wrote to his sponsor:
May I just say that I will hand the mass over to you with great trepidation, as Your Serene Highness is accustomed to having the inimitable masterworks of the great Haydn performed.
Here is Haydn's setting from 1802. He was quite old at the time (Haydn was born in 1732 and was 70 years old the time, and very old by 18th century standard). Mozart had been dead for 11 years, and his pupil, Beethoven, was 30.
et vitam ventúri sǽculi. Amen
(and the life of the world to come. Amen)
Do not underestimate Haydn! He already recognized the necessity of setting this idea of the future as a fugue, as had Mozart! This is a story of love—of the highest form of love, agape. Haydn loved Mozart as a son, and Mozart said that he learned everything from "Papa Haydn." So that even as Mozart learned from Haydn, Haydn continued to learn from Mozart, long after his early death (after which, you could not mention Mozart to Haydn, without him bursting out into tears at the loss of such a beautiful soul). Reports of animosity between Beethoven and Haydn are misleading. Neither Haydn, Mozart, nor Beethoven ever stopped growing. They learned from one another! The progress over about a 75-year period, from Haydn, through Mozart, to late Beethoven, resembles a curve of exponential growth! (An example of the curve below in picture).
2. Middle: Beethoven's first setting of the Mass, the Mass in C major, Op. 86, premiered in 1808. It was commissioned by Prince Nicholaus Esterhazy II, the grandson of the Prince Esterhazy who had employed Haydn. The grandfather was hard enough to deal with. His grandson, by all accounts, was far worse.
Esterhazy treated Beethoven with total disrespect. The Esterhazy estate was huge, but Beethoven was quartered in a room that had not been prepared for human habitation. It was the Prince's custom, after a world premier, to gather everyone into his drawing room to discuss it. When Beethoven entered the ongoing discussion, the Prince sneered, and said , "My dear Beethoven, what is it that you have done, again?" The chorus director, Hummel, snickered, and Beethoven stormed out. He never devoted the Mass to Esterhazy, nor even gave him a copy. How bad was it? Esterhazy wrote to a friend: "Beethoven's music is unbearably ridiculous and detestable; I am not convinced it can ever be performed properly. I am angry and ashamed."
Could the music really have been that far off? Listen to Beethoven's glorious fugal setting of the same passage:
"et vitam ventúri sǽculi. Amen
(and the life of the world to come. Amen)
Could it be, that the Prince's reported 200 mistresses, and 100 illegitimate children somewhat soured his appreciation of Beethoven's love for future generations?
3. Late: After the 1815 Congress of Vienna, the political situation grew worse in Europe. Many works of Schiller and Beethoven were banned. Beethoven had to premier his “Missa Solemnis” in St Petersburg, Russia. It was not allowed to perform a mass outside of a church or cathedral in Austria. When it played in Vienna a year later, Beethoven had to present three movements as individual hymns. He could not call it a mass! (At the time, St. Petersburg may also have been the most musically qualified place to produce the work!)
In the “Missa Solemnis”, he composed the same passage as an enormous double fugue. One fugue subject is based on "et vitam ventúri sǽculi", and the other on "Amen-So Be It!"
Listen to this unfold. Ask yourself if the meaning could possibly be restricted to "finding one's personal reward in Heaven?" Does it not display a profound love for future generations?
We accompany the music with a video, of images of the bright future that many of our young people are building right now. We hope that it encourages many more, to throw off pessimism and join in this creative effort!