# Ludwig van Beethoven, NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini ‎– Missa Solemnis



## itywltmt

Today's post combines our ongoing #_Beethoven2020_ series and Holy Week with a _Once Upon the Internet _share sourced from the old Japanese P_ublic Domain Classic_ site we so often have acknowledged in past Tuesday Blogs.

A few days ago on my _Friday Blog and Podcast_, I began a look at Beethoven's sacred choral works with the oratorio _Christus am Ölberge_ and a _YouTube _share of the Mass in C. Today, we complete the trifecta with the _Missa Solemnis_ in a vintage performance featuring the Robert Shaw Chorale, Canadian and American soloists and the NBC Symphony all under the direction of Arturo Toscanini. I believe this recording was part of a complete Beethoven symphony cycle issued on RCA Victor.

Composed from 1819 to 1823, it was first performed on 7 April 1824 in Saint Petersburg, Russia, under the auspices of Beethoven's patron Prince Nikolai Galitzin; an incomplete performance was given in Vienna on 7 May 1824, the Kyrie, Credo, and Agnus Dei were conducted by the composer at the same concert which premiered the Ninth Symphony. It is generally considered one of the composer's supreme achievements and, along with Bach's Mass in B minor, one of the most significant Mass settings of the common practice period.

There are at least three commercially-available performances of the Missa under Toscanini, two (from 1940 and 1953) with the NBC Symphony stir debate among aficionados, most preferring the soloist quartet and overall performance of the earlier version. However, the 1953 session benefits from Carnegie Hall as a venue and a better engineered result. Whether it ranks #1 or #2, let's all agree that Toscanini captures the solemnity of the piece, and gets he most out of his singers and orchestra.

Happy listening!








*Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770- 1827)*
Missa Solemnis, in D Major, op. 123

Lois Marshall, Soprano 
Nan Merriman, Mezzo-soprano
Eugene Conley, Tenor 
Jerome Hines, Bass 
The Robert Shaw Chorale (Chorus Master - Robert Shaw)
NBC Symphony Orchestra
Arturo Toscanini, conducting

Recording: New York, 1953
Source: Public Domain Classic

_Discogs _- https://www.discogs.com/Ludwig-van-...turo-Toscanini-Missa-Solemnis/release/5287415
_Internet Archive_ - https://archive.org/details/103missasolemnisop.123credo


----------

