Scan 375
The American history and encyclopedia of music, 1908
6 lines. Read by computer on 9 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1The opening movement, the "Kyrie" in D major, is grave and solemn, of ineffable tenderness and religious feeling. Upon the manuscript in Beethoven's handwriting are the words: "From the heart! May it go back to the heart!" The "Gloria" is as usual divided into several sections, among which the larghetto "Qui Tollis" stands out in contrast by reason of its quiet and tranquil character. The "Gloria" reaches its climax with the fugue on the words "in gloria dei patris," and ends with a return to the vigorous opening, the voices giving a final shout of praise after the cessation of the instruments. Greatest in interest, perhaps because of the more various possibilities of emotion presented by its subject matter is the "Credo." This is in several sections but unity is preserved, one means being the singing of the word "Credo" always to the same phrase. "The Credo" reaches its highest points in a fairly overwhelming whole in the "Incarnatus" and "Crucifixus," and especially in the great concluding fugue, "Et vitam venturi," which when its turbulent course is run ends in a passage of tranquil solemnity.
3"The Sanctus" consists of three short sections, all in D major. "The Benedictus" in G major is a slow movement through which a stream of violin melody makes its way like a rivulet through a meadow. Nowhere else in the work is there encountered a page of such serene loveliness. Wagner knelt before the "Benedictus" when he wrote the descent of the Holy Grail in "Lohengrin."
5The final section, the "Agnus Dei," is treated, according to the conventional manner in two parts: the first an Adagio in B minor, the second on "Dona Nobis" in D major and Allegretto vivace. Beethoven has never been more truly dramatic than when into this "Dona Nobis," he puts a wonderful passage for trumpets and drums in order to bring peace into contrast with war. Above it he has inscribed "a prayer for inner and exterior peace."
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