Beethoven
Music and Faith Lecture Series: From Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis to Verdi’s Requiem
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Darien Library presents a new four-week, Tuesday lecture series on music and faith taught by Gil Harel. (Watch his previous lectures.) All lectures take place from 7 to 8 p.m. in the Community Room at Darien Library. — an announcement from Darien Library
From Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis to Verdi’s Requiem
Beethoven’s name does not immediately conjure up church music, and yet the composer himself was said to have considered his Missa Solemnis to be among his finest works. This “Solemn Mass” is a testament to the composer’s ambition (the work clocks in at over 80 minutes and present the performers with significant challenges), as well as his dedication to mastering the styles of the past. In Verdi’s Requiem, we have a curious example of a non-operatic work created by a composer associated almost exclusively with opera.