Maestro Beethoven

 Hello everyone, It's the night owl here. This past weekend was wonderful. I am in the choir at my college and we had our concert this past Saturday and Sunday which went wonderfully. For the past 12 weeks we have dedicated many hours to learning Beethoven's Mass in C. It is a glorious piece for choir and orchestra. We joined forces with the San Luis Chamber Orchestra and had a magical time. This piece was written by Beethoven in 1807 as a commission from the Hungarian Prince Nikolaus Esterhazy II. The piece was poorly received and Beethoven was said to have stormed out of the palace outraged. It sounds so crazy that the Esterhazy's wouldn't think this the most glorious of sounds. It is Beethoven for crying out loud!

The Mass in C is one of Beethoven's least performed works and highly under-rated. It was such an incredible honor to perform such a magnificent work of music. I am getting chills just writing about it! The work is 5 movements long and runs approximately 40 minutes. Quite a vocal workout! And for your listening pleasure, here are my favorite movements of the Mass: the last half of the Credo and the Agnus Dei which are the third and fifth movements respectively. Now humor me... here are a list of the parts that tear at me heart strings every time i listen. Watch out for them.

Credo:
You may have to watch this one on youtube. Sorry for the inconvenience, but this is my favorite version of this movement.
2:35- 2:59 (The harmonies and the way they weave around one another... glorious!)
4:30- 4:44 (Listen specifically to the horns in the orchestra. Its extremely epic with the chorus over top!)
Agnus Dei:
In its entirety, the Agnus Dei is my favorite but here is one bit to watch for...
1:20- 1:40 (After the chorus ends I just love that bit of orchestra. It sounds a bit circus like and that appeals to my ears. haha)






So Glorious! and if you liked it you can head over to youtube and hear the rest. It would even make great study music or cleaning music. Can you tell I love it and want the whole world to hear it?!?
If you made it this far, I send you my deepest thanks.

Till next time

~Amara~