{"id":112989,"date":"2025-03-26T13:17:42","date_gmt":"2025-03-26T17:17:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=112989"},"modified":"2025-03-26T14:00:01","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T18:00:01","slug":"scoop-tmchoir-news-2024-25-season-ends-beethoven-community-2025-26-begins-composer-residence-stephanie-martin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2025\/03\/26\/scoop-tmchoir-news-2024-25-season-ends-beethoven-community-2025-26-begins-composer-residence-stephanie-martin\/","title":{"rendered":"THE SCOOP | TMChoir News: 2024\/25 Season Ends With Beethoven & Community And 2025\/26 Begins With Composer-in-Residence Stephanie Martin"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"L:
L: The Toronto Mendelssohn Choir (Photo courtesy of TMChoir); R: Composer Stephanie Martin (Photo courtesy of the artist)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Toronto Mendelssohn Choir will end their season with epic Beethoven and a community concert, then launch 2025\/26 with a new Composer-in-Residence. Conductor Jean-S\u00e9bastien Vall\u00e9e will lead the choir \u2014 accompanied by the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony \u2014 in Beethoven\u2019s Missa solemnis on April 4.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s followed by a Community Concert spotlighting Durufl\u00e9\u2019s Requiem and new works by current Composer-in-Residence Aaron Manswell on May 9.<\/p>\n

When their new season kicks off in the fall of 2025, Stephanie Martin will step into the role of Composer-in-Residence.<\/p>\n

Missa solemnis in D major, Op. 123 by Ludwig van Beethoven \/ arr. by J. Linckelmann<\/h3>\n

April 4<\/em><\/p>\n

Beethoven himself described his Missa solemnis as he greatest work, composed between 1819 and 1823, around the same period that he began work on his seminal Symphony No. 9.<\/p>\n

Beethoven took the time to study monophonic plainchant, a very early form of Christian sacred music, along with the sacred music of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, to prepare for what would be his second and last mass. It\u2019s also his largest and longest composition outside of Fidelio.<\/p>\n

Musically, he combined elements of the traditional Mass and the music he composed for concert performance. Because of its length, it is actually problematic for liturgical use, and he conceived of performance as a concert oratorio rather than in a church service.<\/p>\n

It premiered in Saint Petersburg, Russia on April 7, 1824, sponsored by his patron Prince Nikolai Golitsyn, who would commission Beethoven\u2019s string quartets Nos. 12, 13 and 15.<\/p>\n

The work itself, however, was dedicated to another patron (and friend), Archduke Rudolf of Austria. Beethoven wrote the piece, in fact, to celebrate the investiture of the Archduke in the role of Archbishop of Olomouc.<\/p>\n

That happened, however, in 1820, a full three years before the composition was completed.<\/p>\n

The Missa solemnis was finished just four years before Beethoven died. He was by then completely deaf, and plagued by ill health, and had largely withdrawn from society because of his ailments.<\/p>\n

The composer inscribed the opening of the Kyrie with the words, \u201cFrom the heart \u2014 may it go again to the heart!\u201d<\/p>\n

The work has a history with TMChoir as well; the Choir gave the Canadian premiere of the work in 1927.<\/p>\n

Featured Performers:<\/strong><\/p>\n