Credits
Participants:
Chorus, orchestra of NOVAT
Conductor – Dmitri Jurowski
Chorus master – Sergey Tenitilov
2nd December 2017 for the first time in Novosibirsk the freshly re-opened Isidor Zak concert hall hosted a performance of Rossini’s Stabat Mater featuring the soloists Veronika Dzhioeva, Yuliya Matochkina, Lawrence Brownlee, Rene Pape, the chorus and the orchestra under D. Korchak. This event left a significant impression, so NOVAT decided to add Stabat Mater into the concerts of the season, considering the amount of genius music pieces, created by various composers after this canonical text.
29th April the audience will witness Stabat Mater variations by Antonio Vivaldi (1736), Giuseppe Verdi (1892) and Francis Poulenc (1950) – composers separated by hundreds of years, and subsequently differing fundamentally in their style. However, the text telling of the Holy Mother suffering at the foot of the cross on Golgotha unites artists from all times. Since the XV century up to XX the text of Stabat Mater was used by the major composers of their time: Palestrina, Haydn, Shubert, Rossini, Liszt, Verdi, Dvořák, Penderecki.
Stabat Mater dolorosa – “The Mother stood grieving” – one of medieval music sequences (hymns, performed during a Catholic Mass after Hallelujah, before the Gospel). This sequence was usually performed on the day of the Seven Dolors of the Blessed Virgin Mary, celebrated on 15th September. It started to be performed also on the Holy Friday of the Passion Week since 1727. Some excerpts are performed on other occasions as well.
The Stabat Mater sequence may be compared to a Russian traditional canon “Lament of the Holy Mother ”, which is included in an Orthodox service of the Holy Friday.
Antonio Vivaldi (1678 —1741) — Italian composer, a violin virtuoso, tutor, conductor, catholic priest. Vivaldi is considered one of the most influential representatives of the Italian violin art of the XVIII century, renowned all across Europe within his lifetime. Master of orchestra-ensemble concert – “concerto grosso”, he wrote about 40 operas. Vivaldi is mostly known for his instrumental concerts, especially the violin ones. His most famous work is a group of four violin concerts “The Four Seasons”. First part of Vivaldi’s Stabat Mater was used in a soundtrack of the 1999 film “The Talented Mr. Ripley”.
Stabat Mater (1727) by Antonio Vivaldi is considered one of the most beautiful music pieces ever created. It consists of 8 parts, and only first ten strophes are used. Antonio Vivaldi wrote Stabat Mater for contralto, strings and basso continuo in 1712 through the request of the church Santa Maria della Pace in Brescia, the city of Vivaldi’s paternal ancestors.
G. Verdi (1813-1901). Stabat Mater of the group “Four Sacred Pieces” (1898). He spent 10 years composing them. Each piece is designed for a different cast and composed in a different style representing various ways of sacred music. In those times when Italy was losing its “music identity”, Verdi turned to the national heritage. Stabat Mater for soloists, chorus and orchestra is very “human” piece, the most dramatic and modern one.
F. Poulenc (1899 – 1963), French composer, pianist, critic, wrote Stabat Mater for soprano, chorus and orchestra in 1950. Back in the day the composer couldn’t pass by a black statue of the Holy Mother at one small village – the episode impressed him so much he started composing sacred music. In 1949 the painter Christian Bérard left this life, the man Poulenc dedicated his piece to. Critic Jean Roua emphasized the unmatched balance of voice and orchestra sound – soprano solo comes in the moments one does not expect, but when it’s needed; soprano solo plays a significant expressive role – each strophe is highly emotional, yet utterly concise. In 1951 American critics called this piece the best choral opus of the year. The same year, after the triumphant premiere of Poulenc’s Stabat Mater, a French critic Henri Helle wrote a leter to the composer, saying: “My dear Francis, it’s such a pleasure listening to your Stabat Mater! This piece is brilliant, your masterpiece is a true masterpiece <…> I challenge anyone left untouched by this omnipresent subtlety and bravery of your Stabat Mater, its splendor, power, incredible excellence of its vocal and orchestral composition.”
Stabat Mater dolorosa – “The Mother stood grieving” – one of medieval music sequences (hymns, performed during a Catholic Mass after Hallelujah, before the Gospel). This sequence was usually performed on the day of the Seven Dolors of the Blessed Virgin Mary, celebrated on 15th September. It started to be performed also on the Holy Friday of the Passion Week since 1727. Some excerpts are performed on other occasions as well.
The Stabat Mater sequence may be compared to a Russian traditional canon “Lament of the Holy Mother ”, which is included in an Orthodox service of the Holy Friday.