STABAT MATER / PERGOLESI

Online concert on the YouTube channel of the Polish Royal Opera.

For centuries, the moving text of the medieval sequence Stabat Mater Dolorosa has been an inexhaustible source of inspiration for artists in every field: painters, sculptors, poets, but above all, composers. The dramatic description of the suffering Mother of God looking at the martyrdom of her only son is constantly present in the works of such composers such as Gioacchino Rossini and Giuseppe Verdi, and, in the 20^th century, Karol Szymanowski, Arvo Pärt and Krzysztof Penderecki.

The genius of the prematurely departed Baroque master Giovanni Battista Pergolesi manifested itself in an exceptional way in his Stabat Mater. Tormented by disease, the 25-year-old composer, sensing his imminent death, created a masterpiece that doesn’t cease to amaze with its suggestive musical content and clarity of construction. Despite the relatively small cast (soprano, alto, two violins and basso continuo), the piece shines with captivating melodies, moving arias and spectacular instrumental passages. It was this special power of expression that granted Pergolesi a prime position among the numerous artists who have taken on the story of the Virgin Mary grieving at the cross over the last three hundred years.

PROGRAM

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi – Stabat Mater
Stabat Mater dolorosa
Cujus animam gementem
O quam tristis et afflicta
Quae moerebat et dolebat
Quis est homo qui non fleret
Vidit suum dulcem natum
Eja Mater, fons amoris
Fac ut ardeat cor meum
Sancta Mater, istud agas
Fac ut portem Christi mortem
Inflammatus et accensus
Quanto corpus morietur

PERFORMERS

MARTA BOBERSKA SOPRANO
KACPER SZELĄŻEK COUNTERTENOR

THE PERIOD INSTRUMENTS ENSEMBLE OF THE POLISH ROYAL OPERA CAPELLA REGIA POLONA