Stabat Mater (Poulenc)

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Stabat Mater
Choral music by Francis Poulenc
Catalogue FP 148
Text Stabat Mater
LanguageLatin
Composed1950 (1950)
Performed1951
Scoring
  • soprano solo
  • mixed choir
  • orchestra

Stabat Mater, FP 148, is a musical setting of the Stabat Mater sequence composed by Francis Poulenc in 1950.

Contents

Background

Poulenc wrote the piece in response to the death of his friend, artist Christian Bérard; he considered writing a Requiem for Bérard, but, after returning to the shrine of the Black Virgin of Rocamadour, he selected the medieval Stabat Mater text. [1] Poulenc's setting, scored for soprano solo, mixed chorus, and orchestra, premiered on the 13th of June 1951 at the Strasbourg Festival. [2] [3] It was well received throughout Europe and in the United States where it won the New York Critic's Circle Award for Best Choral Work of the year. [4]

Structure

The Stabat Mater is divided into twelve movements, [5] which vary dramatically in character from somber to light and frivolous, even on the most serious of texts. All the movements, though, are relatively brief; Robert Shaw's Telarc recording runs just under 30 minutes, with the longest movement taking just over four minutes.

  1. Stabat mater dolorosa (Très calme)
  2. Cujus animam gementem (Allegro molto—Très violent)
  3. O quam tristis (Très lent)
  4. Quae moerebat (Andantino)
  5. Quis est homo (Allegro molto—Prestissimo)
  6. Vidit suum (Andante)
  7. Eja mater (Allegro)
  8. Fac ut ardeat (Maestoso)
  9. Sancta mater (Moderato—Allegretto)
  10. Fac ut portem (To. de Sarabande)
  11. Inflammatus et accensus (Animé et très rythmé)
  12. Quando corpus (Très calme)

The soprano soloist appears in only three movements: Vidit suum, Fac ut portem, and Quando corpus. The chorus appears largely a cappella in two others, O quam tristis and Fac ut ardeat, although the orchestra is not fully silent in either.

Instrumentation

Recordings

Release YearSoloistConductorOrchestraLabelCatalog Number
1989 Kathleen Battle Seiji Ozawa Boston Symphony Orchestra Chandos9341
1996 Danielle Borst Michel Piquemal Orchestre de la Cité Naxos8553176
2002 Judith Howarth Christopher Robinson BBC Philharmonic Orchestra Opus Arte817
2002 Christine Goerke Robert Shaw Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Telarc80362
2006 Catherine Dubosc Richard Hickox City of London Sinfonia Erato63294
2013 Marlis Petersen Stéphane Denève Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra Hänssler Classic93297
2013 Patricia Petibon Paavo Järvi Paris Orchestra Deutsche Grammophon001931002
2014 Carolyn Sampson Daniel Reuss Cappella Amsterdam, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir & Estonian National Symphony Orchestra Harmonia MundiHMC902149
2018 Kate Royal Yannick Nézet-Séguin London Philharmonic Orchestra Lpo108
2019 Marian Tassou Hervé Niquet Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra Epr ClassicEPRC 0032

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References

  1. Mellers.
  2. Schmidt 1995, p.  409.
  3. Francis Poulenc: A Bio-bibliography by George R. Keck, Greenwood Press, 1990
  4. Hell.
  5. Schmidt 1995.

Source texts