Stabat Mater

Stabat Mater Giovanni Battista Pergolesi Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, or the lament of the Virgin's sorrow, is the most celebrated version in the Baroque repertoire.

Cast Nina Spinosi | soprano Marie-Nicole Lemieux | contralto Ensemble Matheus Jean-Christophe Spinosi | conductor

Programme

In the first part of the programme: Vivaldi Laudate pueri Dominum RV 600 Scarlatti Salve Regina

In brief

Written in Italy in the 13th century, the Stabat Mater is one of the most famous sequences in the Catholic liturgy. This long Latin poem of sixty verses describes the suffering of the Virgin at the foot of the cross, where she watches her son die. From the late Middle Ages and the early Renaissance, composers set this moving text to music. However, it was in the Baroque era that the figure of the Virgin became an object of devotion of even greater importance, and from then on the Stabat Mater became an essential presence in sacred music. The most famous is that of Pergolesi, a composer who died at the age of 26, which gave rise to a legend comparable to that of Mozart's Requiem.

Production Théâtre des Champs-Élysées