The Nicene Creed, Beethoven, and the Power of a Small Word
Author: Douglas Yeo
February 20, 2025
I’ve been playing the trombone for over 60 years, since I was in the fourth grade. Throughout my long career in music, I’ve been fortunate to be part of thousands of performances of symphonies, overtures, and concertos. But there is something about works with singers—that tell stories with words and music—that give me special joy.
Over and over through the centuries, composers have turned to great themes of the Christian faith for inspiration. Handel’s Messiah comes immediately to mind, that musical gem that thrills audiences with its message of the first and second comings of Jesus Christ. Oratorios, masses, cantatas—whether by Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, Verdi, or a host of composers—speak of the truths of God and continue to stir hearts today.
Among these pieces are settings of the five parts of what is called the “ordinary” of the Mass; in Latin, a Missa. While Protestants often think of the Mass as a uniquely Roman Catholic expression of faith, many Protestant denominations, including Lutheran and Anglican, craft their liturgy around the weekly celebration of the Lord’s Supper, and they use some of the text of the traditional Mass in their services. The “ordinary” sections are common to all Mass settings, and their texts comprise some of the most important expressions of Christian thought.
First is the penitential Kyrie, “Lord, have mercy, Christ, have mercy.” That is followed by the exuberant Gloria, “Glory to God in the highest.” Next is the Credo, a setting of the Nicene Creed. The final sections are Sanctus, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of your glory,” and Agnus Dei, “O Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.” For any Christian, hearing a beautiful setting of these texts can be stirring, inspirational, and humbling.
I’ve played many Masses during my long career as a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. While some of these pieces were conceived to be heard during a church service, today, we hear this music most frequently in concert halls. I’ve often sat on stage during the performance of one of these great works that express the Christian faith, looking out at the audience and knowing that there is a mixture of people who both believe and accept the message they are hearing, and others for whom it has little personal meaning. Because of this, I always offer a prayer before a concert for the Holy Spirit to do His work in showing hearts the truth of the words.
It’s difficult for me to pick a favorite among these kinds of pieces. It’s a little like a person asking, “Which of your grandchildren do you love the most?” The answer, “The one I’m with at that moment,” is a good one, but, truthfully, it’s a trick question. “I love them all the same!” Still, as I think about great musical works based on the Christian faith that I have performed over the years, I keep coming back to the Missa solemnis, the “Solemn Mass,” of Ludwig van Beethoven. And, in particular, I marvel at what he did with his setting of the Credo, the creed.
At New Covenant Church, we recite the Apostle’s Creed on most Sundays during worship. After the exhortation by the reader—“Christian: What do you believe?”—the congregation says the creed together. It is a powerful moment of individual affirmation folded into a communal expression.
But there is another creed, the Nicene Creed, that expresses core tenants of the Christian faith a little differently. We recite the Nicene Creed at New Covenant Church from time to time. But ever since the creed was written in Greek at the Council of Nicaea in 325, it has been translated into nearly every language of the world. Most musical settings of the Mass throughout history have used the Latin text, and there is an important difference between the rendering of the Nicene Creed in Latin and what we recite on Sunday mornings in English.
That difference is one of the smallest words in the Latin language: et.
Et means “and.” In our modern English translations, we often leave out the word “and” between sentences of the Nicene Creed. Long ago, most of us were taught that we should not begin a sentence with “and,” so translators usually leave it out. However, et, which has been used since the earliest translation of the creed into Latin, actually has a powerful function.
And no composer gave greater meaning to that little word, et, than Ludwig van Beethoven.
Beethoven composed his Missa solemnis over a period of several years, and it was premiered 200 years ago, on April 6, 1824. First performed in the United States in 1872, Missa solemnis has special meaning to me because it was played at the first concert by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in its then new home, Symphony Hall—where I’ve played thousands of concerts myself—in 1900.
As we listen to Beethoven’s setting of the Credo of his Missa, we hear something remarkable. To understand it, let’s look closely at the Nicene Creed and see how it’s set up.
The word et separates important propositions in the Nicene Creed. After unpacking its initial statement, Credo in unum Deum (“I believe in one God”), the creed turns to the person of Jesus Christ. At this point, after stating that for us and our salvation, Jesus came down from heaven, we confess the attributes of the Son of God:
- And was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and became man.
- Was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father.
- And he shall come again with glory, to judge the quick and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end.
The use of et—“and”—in the creed is a tremendously powerful literary device. And Beethoven plays it to the hilt. Every time one of these important et expressions occurs, Beethoven states it in a soloist or the chorus, and then he stops. Then he repeats it. Et. Et. Each time et appears, the musical tension gets greater. The composer is trying to get our attention.
It’s almost as if Beethoven is saying,
“OK. Jesus was made incarnate by the Holy Spirit. That’s amazing. But you think that was great? Wait! AND! AND he became man. And that’s not all. He suffered AND was buried. Not only that, AND he rose again. That’s fantastic, but how about this?! AND he ascended into heaven. But wait, there’s more! AND he shall come again in glory.”
Every phrase is heightened; the creed builds and builds these attributes of Jesus Christ, and Beethoven’s treatment of them—and, and, and, AND!—is thrilling.
Beethoven ends the Credo with its final statements; they also begin with et:
And I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
As if to emphasize this message of hope for Christians, Beethoven repeats the last phrase in what is the longest section of the Credo, “And the life of the world to come. Amen.” This is the great promise for Christians. That at the end of this troubled life on earth, we will be part of a new world, the world of the promise of Revelation 21:1–4 (ESV),
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a loud voice from behind the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.
Until I heard Beethoven’s Missa solemnis, I had never thought much about of the power such a small word as et. Have a listen to Beethoven’s setting of the Credo; you will see just how important it is. Et. Little things can make a big difference.
Douglas Yeo was bass trombonist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1985–2012. He played Beethoven’s Missa solemnis 19 times during his career in Boston, and he will play it three more times with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in May 2025. Douglas is a member of New Covenant Church.
Image of Beethoven with the manuscript of the Missa solemnis: By Joseph Karl Stieler - Google Arts & Culture. Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=133271390
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