Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis in Russia: Arrangements by Alexander N. Serov and the Stasov Brothers’ circle
Abstract
The world premiere of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis in D major took place in St. Petersburg on March 26 (April 7), 1824, with the participation of the Philharmonic Society’s orchestra and singers from the German Court Opera Company. The second public performance of this masterpiece in St. Petersburg succeeded on December 27, 1870, and was given exclusively by Russian musicians. Between these key dates, Beethoven’s opus magnum was not entirely forgotten in Russia. Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis attracted the attention of leading performers, music critics, and art enthusiasts. It circulated, in particular, in arrangements by Alexander N. Serov (1820–1871), made in Simferopol in the summer of 1845 and performed in private circles in St. Petersburg. The arrangements are designed for eight-hand performance on two pianos. There was also an arrangement of Credo for four-hand piano and string quartet (the string parts are lost). The author of the article describes and analyzes the arrangements preserved in the Serov archive in the Department of Manuscripts of The National Library of Russia in St. Petersburg. It has also been suggested that the unfinished manuscript of an arrangement of Gloria for two pianos in eight hands, prepared by Vladimir V. Stasov and preserved in the archive of his niece Varvara D. Komarova, may have been a copy of a lost arrangement by Serov. In the musical circle of the brothers Vladimir and Dmitry Stasov in the 1850s, the performance of eight-hand arrangements was a common practice, and Serov occasionally participated in them. Existing unpublished musical materials, as well as memoirs and epistolary evidence, suggest that the most prominent Russian musicians were well acquainted with the Missa Solemnis long before its return to the concert repertoire in 1870.
Keywords: Ludwig van Beethoven, Missa Solemnis, Alexander N. Serov, Vladimir V. Stasov, Dmitry V. Stasov, musical arrangements, piano four hand, Russian musical culture of the nineteenth century
For citation: Kirillina, L. V. Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis in Russia: Arrangements by Alexander N. Serov and the Stasov Brothers’ circle. Contemporary Musicology, 10(3), 108–137. https://doi.org/10.56620/2587-9731-2026-3-108-137
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.56620/2587-9731-2026-3-108-137
Copyright (c) 2026 Larisa V. Kirillina
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