Weeping, Mary stands at the cross and sees the pain of her dying son.
This best-known and most beautiful Stabat Mater also has a strong moving power in this version for voices and saxophones. The music touches on deep, universal feelings, namely intense sadness on the one hand, but also survival and optimism on the other.
Pergolesi wrote this work shortly before his death in 1736. He was 26 years old at the time. He wrote the piece in Pozzuoli, the town where he had retired because of his very poor health. Pergolesi was commissioned to replace Alessandro Scarlatti's Stabat Mater, which until then had been performed every Good Friday in the church Maria dei Sette Dolori in Naples.
The text of the Stabat Mater was written in the Middle Ages by an unknown poet, probably Johannes Fidenza (1221-1274), who later took the name Bonaventura. The piece consists of 12 parts. The first six describe the pain Mary endures as she sees her son hanging on the cross. The last six movements are sung from a ‘I’ character who wants to feel the pain Mary feels too.
In Pergolesi's famous Stabat Mater version, Mary's sorrows are made audible and palpable in tones that rub against each other. At the end comes acceptance and glimmers of hope.
In a quote by Ellen Deckwitz:
Mourning also has something beautiful, because as the bereaved, you ultimately choose life after all. After all, the alternative is dying. (Ellen Deckwitz in her column in NRC)
A quote from Hannie van Osnabrugge's book about The Pergolesi Ensemble's performance with saxophones:
...The harrowing sound of the saxophone cuts through your soul, just as the sword touches Mary's heart. The saxophones express Mary's pain so beautifully. After that first time at the Ruinekerk in Bergen on Good Friday 2007, it never became Easter without this Pergolesi....
Hannie van Osnabrugge - Stabat Mater, a journey through seven centuries of music.
For detailed information on composers, translations and performances of the Stabat Mater, see her website: https://stabatmater.info/nl/
