Beethoven's sacred masterpiece, the Missa Solemnis, has thrilled audiences with its monumental splendor and grandeur of vision since its premiere. Even the master himself described his Mass as "the greatest work that I have written so far." And the unusually long duration of the works evolution – originally intended for the occasion of the appointment of the Archduke Rudolph of Austria to the Cardinal Archbishop of Olomouc in June 1819 to the score’s completion in March 1823 - is external evidence of the extraordinary commitment of the intensity the composer’s effort.