Pergolesi: Stabat Mater

Stabat Mater (Suffering Mother) is a musical setting of the Stabat Mater sequence, composed by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi in 1736.  Composed in the final weeks of Pergolesi's life, it is scored for soprano and alto soloists, violin I and II, viola and basso continuo (cello and organ).

The Stabat Mater is a 13th-century Christian hymn to Mary, which portrays her suffering as Jesus Christ's mother during his crucifixion.  Its author may be either the Franciscan friar Jacopone da Todi or Pope Innocent III.  The title comes from its first line, Stabat Mater dolorosa, which means "the sorrowful mother was standing."

The hymn is sung at the liturgy on the memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows.  The Stabat Mater has been set to music by many Western composers, most famously by Palestrina (~1590), Vivaldi (1712), Domenico (1715) and Alessandro Scarlatti (1723), Pergolesi (1736), Joseph Haydn (1767), Giuseppe Tartini (1769), Rossini (1831–42), Antonín Dvořák (1876–77), Verdi (1896–97), Karol Szymanowski (1925–26), Poulenc (1950) and Arvo Pärt (1985).


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 is divided into twelve movements, each named after the incipit of the text:

     1.   "Stabat Mater Dolorosa", Grave, F minor, common time; duet
     2.   "Cujus animam gementem", Andante amoroso, C minor, 3/8; soprano aria
     3.   "O quam tristis et afflicta", Larghetto, G minor, common time; duet
     4.   "Quae moerebat et dolebat", Allegro, E-flat major, 2/4; alto aria
     5.   "Quis est homo", Largo, C minor, common time; duet—"Pro peccatis suae gentis", Allegro, C minor, 6/8
     6.   "Vidit suum dulcem natum", Tempo giusto, F minor, common time; soprano aria
     7.   "Eja mater fons amoris", Andantino, C minor, 3/8; alto aria
     8.   "Fac ut ardeat cor meum", Allegro, G minor, cut common time; duet
     9.   "Sancta mater, istud agas", Tempo giusto, E-flat major, common time; duet
    10.  "Fac ut portem Christi mortem", Largo, G minor, common time; alto aria
    11.  "Inflammatus et accensus", Allegro ma non troppo, B-flat major, common time; duet
    12.  "Quando corpus morietur", Largo assai, F minor, common time; duet—"Amen..." Presto assai, F minor, cut common time