  The front form Hamiltonian for quantum chromodynamics, reduced to an
effective Hamiltonian acting only in the $q\bar q$ space, is solved
approximately. After coordinate transformation to usual momentum space and
Fourier transformation to configuration space a second order differential
equation is derived. This retarded Schr\"odinger equation is solved by
variational methods and semi-analytical expressions for the masses of all 30
pseudoscalar and vector mesons are derived. In view of the direct relation to
quantum chromdynamics without free parameter, the agreement with experiment is
remarkable, but the approximation scheme is not adequate for the mesons with
one up or down quark. The crucial point is the use of a running coupling
constant $\alpha_s(Q^2)$, in a manner similar but not equal to the one of
Richardson in the equal usual-time quantization. Its value is fixed at the Z
mass and the 5 flavor quark masses are determined by a fit to the vector meson
quarkonia.
