Holy Week Part 2

Okay, this started out as a 3-part series but now it's starting to feel more like six parts!  Today, the first four of a group of no less than seven choral works all based on the same relevant text.

In the 1300s we find the first documented use of the poetic sequence Stabat mater dolorosa, which meditates on the sufferings of the Virgin Mary as she stood before the cross of her son's death on the first Good Friday.  Its author is not clearly known, but it is an obvious product of the glorious flowering of Marian devotion which characterized Western European Christianity in the Gothic age.

Centuries later (1727), the poem was formally adopted into the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church, but it was informally and widely used and known long before that.  The intense emotion and drama inspired by the scene -- and graphically described in the poem -- have long inspired composers.

Today I want to describe first three settings of Stabat mater dolorosa from the Baroque era.  Conveniently, all three are grouped together in a 2-CD Double Decca reissue package. 

The first is a renowned setting for soprano and alto by Pergolesi.  What's unusual is that this is one of the very few works attributed to Pergolesi which he actually wrote!  Obviously, his fame and his early death (age 26) conspired to lure many other composers to make money by composing music and publicizing it under his name!  It's a richly dramatic work, popular with opera singers, but what I love about the St. John's College performance recorded here is the tasteful deployment of the soprano boys and male altos of the college choir in selected movements and passages.  The musical value of the work is, I feel, heightened by the contrast between choir (in, for instance, the solemn and stately processional of the first movement) and the brilliant solo singing of Felicity Palmer and Alfreda Hodgson in the more florid arias and duets.

My personal favourite of the collection is the succeeding Stabat Mater by Domenico Scarlatti.  The contrast is immense.  Reaching back to the 16th century for his models, Scarlatti's setting is calm, pensive, even meditative -- a tone which truly suits the language of the poem.  But then, at the end, the final "Amen" is a riotous fugal chorus in a dancing 6/8 tempo.  Again, a huge contrast -- but since the final stanza envisages the soul granted entry to Paradise by the Virgin the rousing finale is entirely appropriate.  It's also one of the most utterly memorable choral compositions of the Baroque era -- once you hear it, the bouncing fugue subject and the exhilarating final rushing scales are impossible to erase from your mind!

The third setting is by Antonio Bononcini.  This is actually the earliest of the three to be composed, and was in fact written while the text was still barred from the liturgy since Bononcini died in 1726.  It was written in Vienna where he lived for much of his life, and both the style and the instrumentation point clearly to northern Europe rather than to Italy.  It's not as memorable as either of the other settings, but still beautiful music. 

The collection is rounded out by a couple of motets by Alessandro Scarlatti, a resplendent and energetic Magnificat attributed to Pergolesi (probably wrongly), and a setting of the Crucifixus from the Mass by Antonio Lotti which is so gravely beautiful that it fully bears comparison with the more famous setting composed by J. S. Bach in his Mass in B Minor.  All in all, as rewarding a collection of Baroque choral rarities as you could want to have in your collection.

Finally, as a pendant to this set, you should seek out a recording of Haydn's Stabat Mater to enjoy.  Like all of Haydn, this lengthy cantata teems with memorable melodies.  Nothing revolutionary here, but still a lovely addition to the choral repertoire.  Anyone who has enjoyed either Haydn's Masses or his oratorios should certainly investigate this.  Alas, I have no particular recording to recommend (my bad).