Desecularizing Beethoven

This chapter traces some common Enlightenment narratives of Beethoven and the problematic role that sacred music plays in defining what is included or omitted as “Enlightenment” in terms of its social, political and philosophical identity. These narratives, however, sit uncomfortably with the Missa solemnis and have resulted in some strange narrative maneuvers within Beethoven scholarship that not only skew the historical context but our image of the composer. The chapter ends by exploring an approach that tries to square “the Enlightenment” with the circle of sacred music without simply reversing the narrative of a progressive Beethoven with a reactionary one: religion is a radically creative force for Beethoven and his Enlightenment belief in “freedom and progress.”