{"id":535,"date":"2012-12-04T23:14:46","date_gmt":"2012-12-04T15:14:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stuif.com\/blog\/?p=535"},"modified":"2024-11-24T12:16:14","modified_gmt":"2024-11-24T04:16:14","slug":"stabat-mater-pergolesi-1736","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuif.com\/blog\/?p=535","title":{"rendered":"Stabat Mater (Pergolesi)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Italian composer Giovanni Battista Pergolesi was only twenty-six years old when\u00a0 he died in 1736 from tuberculosis. In the year of his death he wrote a masterpiece, the Stabat Mater.<\/p>\n

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For those readers without a Christian background, the Stabat Mater is a sorrowful hymn, dating back to the 13th century about Maria, the mother of Jesus, during the crucifixion of her son. A mother watching her son dying is very emotional, also for non-Christians. It has been put to music by many composers, Vivaldi, Rossini, Dvorak, etc. If you are interested in the full text (Latin and English) of the Stabat Mater, click here<\/a> . The singers are Emma Kirkby and James Bowman<\/p>\n

Nowadays, with YouTube accepting video clips exceeding the ten minute limit, there is a wide choice of interpretations available. Here I will give a few links with some personal comments.<\/p>\n

Originally Pergolesi composed the Stabat Mater for a male alto and a male soprano (a castrato!), customary in his days. Here is a performance by counter-tenor Rene Jacobs and boy-soprano Sebastian Hennig. Can you hear that actually two males are singing?<\/p>\n