Événement

Pergolesi Stabat Mater and Other Works in Concert

This Holy Week concert features the magnum opus of 18th century Italian composer Giobanni Battista Pergolesi his Stabat Mater dolorosa. Written for soprano and alto voices with orchestral accompaniment, this piece was performed every Good Friday at the Monastery San Luigi di Palazzo in Naples, having replaced a work of the same name by Alessandro Scarlatti.

"Stabat Mater dolorosa" is a medieval Roman Catholic hymn which meditates on the suffering of the Blessed Virgin Mary during and following Jesus' crucifixion.

The program will open with the second movement of Samuel Barber's String Quartet, Op. 11. This is the work on which his most celebrated workAdagio for Stringsis based.

The first half will conclude with Sergei Rachmaninoff's Vocalise. This work, the last of his "Fourteen Songs, Op. 34" was written in 1912 for soprano Antonina Nezhdanova, Written without words, it was intended to be sung on a neutral vowel to help convey the distinct inner sorrow the music was written to evoke. In this performance, an adaptation of this work for cello will be performed. With the cello's innate lyric, voice-like ability, this piece lends itself perfectly to the instrument.