Rome, Italy. On Holy Tuesday evening, April 12, 2022, soprano and alto voices and the sound of violins and cellos echoed the walls of the 94×58 meter Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in the eternal city of Rome. A concert entitled “Stabat Mater” featuring one of Pergolesi’s masterpieces, the Stabat Mater, took place at this fifth-largest basilica in Rome with a half-filled audience after two years of no concerts and public events.
Stabat Mater is a musical setting of the Stabat Mater sequence, composed by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi in 1736 and scored for soprano and alto soloists, violin I and II, viola, and basso continuo (cello and organ). Pergolesi composed it during his illness from tuberculosis in a Franciscan monastery in Pozzuoli, along with a Salve Regina setting, and finished it right before he died.
The concert, featured by Musica su Roma and Associazione Enrico Toti, was directed by Lorenzo Porzio, the pianist of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish ai Parioli, an Italian rower and a world-renowned pianist and conductor. Rome’s Philharmonic Orchestra rendered the music together with Goar Faradzhian (soprano), Sara Rocchi (contraito), Italian actor Yuri Napoli and film dubber Livia Toti as commentators. The concert was graced by the special participation of the famous soprano, founder and head of Associazione Enrico Toti, Claudia Toti Lombardozzi.
With introductory comments for every movement, the concert faithfully rendered the following sequence:
- “Stabat Mater Dolorosa”, Grave, F minor, common time; duet
- “Cujus animam gementem”, Andante amoroso, C minor, 3/8; soprano aria
- “O quam tristis et afflicta”, Larghetto, G minor, common time; duet
- “Quae moerebat et dolebat”, Allegro, E-flat major, 2/4; alto aria
- “Quis est homo”, Largo, C minor, common time; duet
—”Pro peccatis suae gentis”, Allegro, C minor, 6/8
- “Vidit suum dulcem natum”, Tempo giusto, F minor, common time; soprano aria
- “Eja mater fons amoris”, Andantino, C minor, 3/8; alto aria
- “Fac ut ardeat cor meum”, Allegro, G minor, cut common time; duet
- “Sancta mater, istud agas”, Tempo giusto, E-flat major, common time; duet
- “Fac ut portem Christi mortem”, Largo, G minor, common time; alto aria
- “Inflammatus et accensus”, Allegro ma non troppo, B-flat major, common time; duet
- “Quando corpus morietur”, Largo assai, F minor, common time; duet
—”Amen…” Presto assai, F minor, cut common time
The concert was streamed online on Facebook, and you can view it here: https://fb.watch/clFrXNsdt9/
