BBC Singers : Margaret Godley , Margaret Rees , Joan Lennard , Margaret Rolfe, Bradbridge White , Emlyn Bebb , Victor Utting , and Stanley Riley. BBC Chorus. BBC Orchestra. Conductor, Sir Adrian Boult
7.22 Kyrie, Gloria, Credo
8.9 app. Interval
8.24 Sanctus, Agnus Dei
The Mass in D was composed as a mark of esteem for' Beethoven's friend and pupil the Archduke Rudolph of Austria, who in 1818 was appointed Archbishop of Olmiitz. It is generally accepted to be the crown of Beethoven's achievements. It certainly contains some of his loveliest music, as in the Agnus Dei ', and throughout its vast proportions the imagination and invention never flag. At the top of the score Beethoven wrote : ' From the heart it comes ; to the heart it will go '. And this sums up to perfection the power and the appeal of the music.
During the interval the Rev. Dom. J. B. McElligott, O.S.B., talks about the problems of setting the Mass to music