Motorhead - The Hammer (Live)

It was almost impossible to celebrate the solemn mass in the church, even for formal reasons. Indeed, in this case, the liturgy should have lasted more than two hours, which was allowed only in cases of some grandiose festivities, which were not foreseen in Vienna. On the other hand, censorship did not allow the performance of works with a liturgical text outside the church. In letters to his publishers and colleagues living in the Protestant lands of Germany, Beethoven said that Mass can be performed in concerts as an oratorio, especially if it is provided with a German text. Such a practice did exist, but no one undertook this task in relation to the Solemn Mass. Here literal translation from Latin was impossible, a new, free text was required that would be well suited to Beethoven’s music, which meant that one had to listen to this unusually difficult music,where every melodic turn was important.