Hilbert Circle Theatre Concert Report

For my first report, I chose to attend Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis in D Major at Hilbert Circle Theatre. I was excited to hear more of Beethoven’s work, considering I only knew his more famous pieces. This was also the first Symphony that I will actually be able to remember. My mother used to take my brothers and I as young children; however, I was very young and I do not remember any of it. I love music and have attended operas, but this was a whole new experience. I was unsure what to expect from the night’s performance and was worried that I would get lost; however, I was pleasantly surprised by the size of the building and ease of finding my seat. The inside was absolutely beautiful and had such an elegant look. The theatre itself was fantastic.

Something humorous that occurred during the concert was watching a man, who had fallen asleep during the first movement, nearly jump out of his seat with the choir sang ‘Gloria!”. One of the things that really stood out to me during this movement was Beethoven’s use of word painting. The orchestra really added significance to the text. For example: The music would get very low for the solemn parts and jumped to fast and full of power and energy for the Gloria parts. This part of the movement really captures your attention with the change in moods, textures, and

This movement continued the hopefulness that I had felt in the previous movement. Something I did notice was the lack of flutes or oboes playing. Nor did I hear the chorus sing as they did in the past movements. The verses were sung in an adagio tempo, a change from previous movements. This gave the music a very peaceful and serine feeling. After the first phrase ended, the music picks up into a more joyful tempo. The choir also begins to sing. During the third phrase the music becomes even faster and full of joyfulness. During the Benedictus phrase, Beethoven included a violin solo accompanied by the orchestra. I was pleasantly surprised by this because I love the violin. This phrase was a beautiful combination of the choir, soloist, violins, and