Turku Po/Segerstam - Ludwig van Beethoven: Mass in C major, Vestas Feuer, Meeresstille und gl?ckliche Fahrt

The custom of marking the name-day of Princess Esterh�zy with a newly composed Mass began in the 1790s and for many years was carried out by Joseph Haydn. In 1807 Beethoven was commissioned and responded with his Mass in C major. Coolly received at court, it is a celebratory work of large-scale brilliance. The cantata Meeresstille und gl�ckliche Fahrt is set to Goethe�s poems and contrasts calm with exuberance. In 1803 Beethoven set two numbers from Vestas Feuer, written by Emanuel Schikaneder, the librettist of Mozart�s Die Zauberfl�te.