BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Tuesday, October 31, 1820 (approximately)

According to William Kinderman and Barry Cooper, Beethoven has completed the autograph of the Benedictus movement of the Missa Solemnis by about the end of October or at the latest November. That document is found together with the Credo in the collection of the Berlin Staatsbibliothek, Artaria 202, beginning at p.140. A copy of the cover page of the Benedictus is attached.

First page of the Benedictus, Artaria 202 p.140, courtesy Berlin Staatsbibliothek

Leonard Bernstein conducts the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in a 1978 live performance of the Benedictus here:

Amongst sketches for the Benedictus in sketchbook Artaria 195, there are also a few sketches for the Agnus Dei, most of the work for which occurred in pocket sketchbook Grasnick 5 and desk sketchbook Artaria 197. Beethoven was clearly already looking ahead to that final movement and its concluding “Dona nobis pacem.”