Giovanni Battista Pergolesi - Stabat Mater

- Composer: Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (4 January 1710 -- 16 March 1736) - Ensemble: Ricercar Consort - Conductor: Philippe Pierlot - Soloists: Núria Rial (soprano), Carlos Mena (contratenor) - Year of recording: 2006 Stabat mater, for soprano, alto, strings & organ in F major, written in 1736. 00:00 - 1. Stabat Mater dolorosa - Grave 04:37 - 2. Cujus animam gementem - Andante amoroso 06:41 - 3. O quam tristis et afflicta - Larghetto 08:53 - 4. Quae moerebat et dolebat - Allegro 10:33 - 5. Quis est homo - Largo 13:20 - 6. Vidit suum dulcem natum - A tempo giusto 16:48 - 7. Eja mater fons amoris - Andantino 19:06 - 8. Fac ut ardeat cor meum - Allegro 21:13 - 9. Sancta mater, istud agas - A tempo giusto 26:17 - 10. Fac ut portem Christi mortem - Largo 30:02 - 11. Inflammatus et accensus - Allegro 31:52 - 12. Quando corpus morietur - Largo assai Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater is a musical setting of the Stabat Mater sequence, composed in 1736 in the final weeks of Pergolesi’s life. He actually wrote the final chorus on his deathbed. Quis est homo? “Who is he that would not weep, to see the mother of Christ in such despair?“ These words were first uttered in thirteenth century Italy in an affective and emotional Latin deovtional lyric; the obvious answer to its rhetorical question is that no true believer would not mourn with the Virgin over the dying Christ. The poem is the “Stabat mater,“ thought to be the work of the great Lauda-poet Jacopone da Todi. Its plangent strophes affect an emotional connection between the meditating believer and the mother of the Crucified, and first emerged from the intense strains of popular devotion following the Black Plague. In the eighteenth century, however, the text took on new life in popular devotional practice through the influence of one musical setting: the Stabat mater dolorosa of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi. The work is divided into twelve movements, each named after the incipit of the text. Much of the music is based on Pergolesi’s earlier setting of the Dies Irae sequence. The Stabat Mater is one of Pergolesi’s most celebrated sacred works, achieving great popularity after the composer’s death. Jean-Jacques Rousseau showed appreciation for the work, praising the opening movement as “the most perfect and touching duet to come from the pen of any composer“. Many composers adapted the work, including Giovanni Paisiello, who extended the orchestral accompaniment, and Joseph Eybler, who added a choir to replace some of the duets. Bach’s “Tilge, Höchster, meine Sünden“ is a parody cantata based on Pergolesi’s composition. The work was not without its detractors. Padre Martini criticised its light, operatic style in 1774, and believed it was too similar to Pergolesi’s comic opera “La Serva Padrona“ to adequately deliver the pathos of the text.