Ex. 8-2: Stabat Mater dolorosa

The opening movement of Vivaldi's Stabat Mater (RV 621), scored for solo alto (or countertenor), strings, and basso continuo. The Stabat Mater is a medieval Latin hymn about the Virgin Mary grieving at the cross where her son Jesus is dying; its opening words, "Stabat Mater dolorosa," mean "the sorrowful mother stood." Commissioned by the parish of Santa Maria della Pace in Brescia and premiered there on 18 March 1712, during the liturgy of the Seven Sorrows of Mary.

After the premiere, the work was forgotten for over two centuries. It was rediscovered in the 1920s in a large collection acquired by the National Library of Turin, and restored by Alfredo Casella. Casella conducted its revival in September 1939 at the Vivaldi Week in Siena.

The whole work stays in dark minor keys — F minor and C minor — until the final "Amen," which turns fast and bright, in F major. As a Catholic liturgical piece, women were forbidden from singing it; the alto part was originally performed by a castrato or falsettist.

A piano transcription was featured in the 1999 film The Talented Mr. Ripley and in Akira Kurosawa's 1991 film Rhapsody in August.

Boccherini's Stabat Mater is also in this app. (Ex. 8-4: Cujus animam gementem by Luigi Boccherini)

From the album Vivaldi: Stabat Mater by countertenor Andreas Scholl with Ensemble 415 (1995)
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