Stabat Mater

Another month, another concert! I was asked to sing the soprano solo in a presentation of Pergolesi's Stabat Mater. We performed in St. Leo the Great, a parish church in San Jose.

I was unfamiliar with the piece before this concert, and had hardly heard of the composer, Pergolesi. He died when he was 26 (my current age), and wrote the piece only a few months before he succumbed to TB.

Pergolesi

The piece is about the suffering of Mary as she watched her son being crucified. The structure of the piece is just genius, and it makes me sad to think of what other glorious works Pergolesi would have produced had his life not been cut short by disease. There are 12 songs altogether, and 7 marks a change in the piece's focus. While songs 1 through 6 focus on Christ's suffering, songs 7 through 12 exhibit a commitment on the part of the viewer to share that suffering. Because of the natural break, the father at St. Leo's took the opportunity to give a brief sermon on the subject before we finished the last half. The whole effect was wonderful, and as I've mentioned before, gave me a much-needed moment to focus on the true meaning of Christ's final week.

Below are a few of the excerpts various viewers (including my wonderful husband) were kind enough to capture for me. Sorry it's so dark, but hopefully the sound is okay.

Cujus animam gementem, contristatam et dolentem pertransivit gladius.

"Whose soul moaning, sorrowing and pained, was pierced by a sword."

More to come...