STABAT MATER

STABAT MATER

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi 1710 – 1736

Soprano

Jacqueline Porter

Mezzo-Soprano

Sally-Anne Russell

The Fidelio Quartet

Robert Macindoe Isin Cakmakcioglu

Lisa Grosman Rachel Atkinson

Organ

Anthony Halliday

Good Friday 2 April 2021 at 7.30pm

St Francis’ Church, Melbourne

Pergolesi’s Stabat mater is a transcendently beautiful and deeply personal musical meditation on suffering and redemption, written by the 26-year-old composer as he himself lay dying.

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, received musical training at the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesu Cristo in Naples during the 1720s. His activities during this time included work as a chorister and especially as a lead violinist for one of the instrumental ensembles sponsored by the Conservatorio for public performances in Naples and its environs. Contemporary sources suggest that Pergolesi’s violin improvisations were full of new and graceful ornaments and highly chromatic passage-work. Some of these were so unusual as to enchant his musical colleagues, who were also “sometimes constrained to suspend their study, surprised by the harmony” that he produced. This description may point to a new musical style that had been developing in Naples and of which Pergolesi came to be considered a representative. The Young Pergolesi

By 1731 Pergolesi had made his debut as a composer of sacred drama and was given his first opera commission. His talent soon earned him the position of maestro di cappella to the influential Neapolitan Prince Stigliano in 1732. He received numerous commissions to write sacred and secular works, some for special occasions, including royal birthday festivities and services devoted to atonement for the devastating earthquakes that took place that year. In 1733 one of Pergolesi’s most remembered works, his comic opera La serva padrona (The Servant as Mistress), received its premiere and in the same year Pergolesi was appointed deputy to the maestro di cappella of the city of Naples. In 1734, highly charged political events were to change the face of Naples. Pergolesi’s career, however, took a positive direction when his talents became hailed by the newly empowered Duke of Maddaloni, in whose service he became employed.

Unfortunately, his celebrity status was short lived, no doubt fuelled by the failure of his second comic opera, La contadina astute (The Shrewd Village Lass). By 1735 various documents show that though once esteemed, as a composer and musician Pergolesi could no longer be relied upon. One last glimmer of hope for a career presented itself in 1735 when the Roman public expressed a liking for Pergolesi’s style of composition after hearing his Missa di S. Emidio, presented by Duke Maddaloni. He received a commission to set Metastasio’s L’Olimpiade to music. But this too was doomed to failure, with interruptions to performances and a mediocre

cast. Popular legend has it that Pergolesi was struck on the head by an orange hurled by a dissatisfied audience member. The Composition of the ‘Stabat Mater’

In 1736, the final year of Pergolesi’s life, a variety of his works were performed with great success. During his final illness (he is thought to have died of tuberculosis), Pergolesi removed to a Franciscan monastery near Naples, where he composed the Stabat mater and the Salve regina. Pergolesi’s biographer Villarosa reported in 1831 that the Stabat mater was his last work and that it had been commissioned for the sum of ten ducats by the brotherhood of Our Lady of Sorrows (a fraternity of Neapolitan nobleman); the music was to be sung at the Brotherhood’s Good Friday devotions. Alessandro Scarlatti (1660–1725) had already produced a Stabat mater (using the same forces — soprano, alto and strings) for the same brotherhood; Pergolesi must have found it thrilling to follow in the footsteps of such an esteemed master.

I.

‘STABAT MATER DOLOROSA’

Duet

Grave, F minor

Stabat Mater dolorosa Iuxta crucem lacrimosa Dum pendebat Filius.

The grieving Mother stood weeping beside the cross where her Son was hanging.

II.

‘CUJUS ANIMAM GEMENTEM’

Soprano Aria

Andante amoroso, C minor

Cuius animam gementem Contristatam et dolentem Pertransivit gladius.

Through her weeping soul, compassionate and grieving, a sword passed.

III.

‘O QUAM TRISTIS ET AFFLICTA’

Duet

Larghetto, G minor

O quam tristis et afflicta Fuit illa benedicta Mater unigeniti!

O how sad and afflicted was that blessed Mother of the only-begotten!

IV.

‘QUAE MOEREBAT ET DOLEBAT’

Alto Aria

Allegro, E-flat major

Quae moerebat et dolebat, Pia Mater, dum videbat Nati poenas incliti.

Who mourned and grieved, seeing and bearing the torment of her glorious child.

V.

‘QUIS EST HOMO’

Duet

Largo, C minor

Quis est homo qui non fleret, Matrem Christi si videret In tanto supplicio?

Who is it that would not weep, seeing Christ’s Mother in such agony?

VI.

‘VIDIT SUUM DULCEM NATUM’

Soprano Aria

Tempo giusto, F minor

Vidit suum dulcem natum Moriendo desolatum In tanto supplicio?

She saw her own sweet son die desolate, as he gave up His spirit.

VII.

‘EJA MATER FONS AMORIS’

Alto Aria

Andantino, C minor

Eja Mater, fons amoris Me sentire vim doloris Fac, ut tecum lugeam.

O Mother, fountain of love, make me feel the power of sorrow, that I may grieve with you.

VIII.

‘FAC UT ARDEAT COR MEUM’

Duet

Allegro, G minor

Fac, ut ardeat cor meum In amando Christum Deum Ut sibi complaceam.

Grant that my heart may burn in the love of Christ my God, that I may greatly please Him.

IX.

‘SANCTA MATER, ISTUD AGAS’

Duet

Tempo giusto, E-flat major

Sancta Mater, istud agas, Crucifixi fige plagas cordi meo valide.

Holy Mother, may you do thus: place the wounds of the Crucified deep in my heart.

X.

‘FAC UT PORTEM CHRISTI MORTEM’

Alto Aria

Largo, G minor

Fac ut portem Christi mortem, passionis fac consortem, et plagas recolere.

Make me to bear Christ's death, sharing in His passion, and commemorate his wounds.

XI.

‘INFLAMMATUS ET ACCENSUS’

Duet

Allegro ma non troppo, B-flat major

Inflammatus et accensus per te, Virgo, sim defensus in die iudicii.

Inflame and set on fire, may I be defended by you, Virgin, on the day of judgment.

XII.

‘QUANDO CORPUS MORIETUR’

Duet

Largo assai, F minor

Quando corpus morietur, fac ut animæ donetur Paradisi gloria.

When my body dies, grant that to my soul is given the glory of paradise.

FINALE

‘AMEN’

Presto assai, F minor