Pergolesi: Stabat Mater

Solomon, A. (2010) Pergolesi: Stabat Mater. [Audio]

Abstract

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's Stabat Mater performed by period instrument ensemble Florilegium, with Elin Manahan Thomas (soprano) and Robin Blaze (countertenor). As a composer Pergolesi’s productive career began at the age of twenty, and by twenty-six (March 1736) he had died of tuberculosis. During his lifetime Pergolesi’s fame was restricted, in the main, to Rome and Naples, yet after his death, his reputation eclipsed most other composers in the second half of the eighteenth century. The whole of Europe developed an increasing curiosity for his compositions. His posthumous celebrity status was such a magnet in the music world that, hoping to reap large financial profits, publishers and opera directors alike attributed his name to hundreds of vocal and instrumental works by lesser-known composers. Following Pergolesi’s death the Stabat Mater became one of the most celebrated and frequently printed works of the 18th century.

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