01	Stabat Mater: Stabat Mater dolorosa						04:12
	02	Stabat Mater: Cuius animam gementem						02:46
	03	Stabat Mater: O quam tristis						02:25
	04	Stabat Mater: Quae moerebat at dolebat						02:47
	05	Stabat Mater: Quis est homo						03:04
	06	Stabat Mater: Vidit suum dulcem natum						04:25
	07	Stabat Mater: Eia, Mater, fons amoris						02:40
	08	Stabat Mater: Fac ut ardeat						02:46
	09	Stabat Mater: Sancta Mater, istud agas						05:28
	10	Stabat Mater: Fac ut portem						04:07
	11	Stabat Mater: Inflammatus et accensus						02:37
	12	Stabat Mater: Quando corpus morietur						04:17
	13	Salve Regina: Salve Regina						03:37
	14	Salve Regina: Ad te clamamus						04:15
	15	Salve Regina: Eja ergo, advocata nostra						01:46
	16	Salve Regina: Et Jesum						02:44
	17	Salve Regina: O clemens, o pia						01:40
	18	Stabat Mater: Stabat Mater dolorosa						04:33
	19	Stabat Mater: Cuius animam gementem						02:09
	20	Stabat Mater: O quam tristis						02:17
	21	Stabat Mater: Quis est homo						02:56
	22	Stabat Mater: Vidit suum dulcem natum						03:47
	23	Stabat Mater: Inflammatus et accensus						02:07
	24	Stabat Mater: Quando corpus morietur						04:30

Giovanni Pergolesi
Country Italy
Birth Jan 4, 1710 in Jesi, Italy
Death Mar 16, 1736 in Pozzuoli, Italy
Period Classical

Biography
Despite his tragically short life, Pergolesi left an impressive _uvre, including the intermezzo La serva padrona, one of the great examples of the Italian comic opera in the eighteenth century. A successful opera composer, Pergolesi was also a highly esteemed composer of church music, exemplified by his remarkable Stabat Mater.
Following musical studies in his native town, Pergolesi was sent to Naples in the early 1720s. He continued his studies at the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesu Cristo, where he also performed as a violinist, also making his debut as a composer. In 1731, Pergolesi received his first commission to compose an opera, which means that he had probably left the conservatory around that time. By early 1732, Pergolesi had composed two operas, which met with minimal success. That year, he became maestro di cappella to Prince Ferdinando Colona Stigliano, a prominent Neapolitan nobleman. Pergolesi's opera Lo frate 'nnamorato was performed, greeted with immense enthusiasm.

In 1733, Pergolesi was commissioned to write an opera for the celebration of the birthday of the Empress of Austria. Performed in 1733, this opera, Il prigioner superbo, contained a two-act intermezzo, La serva padrona, which eventually gained extraordinary popularity as a separate work. When Carlos de Bourbon entered Naples in 1734, re-establishing, with the support of Spanish troops, the Kingdom of Naples, Pergolesi was asked to write a mass. He composed his Mass in F, which was performed in Rome, eliciting considerable interest. Pergolesi was now maestro di cappella to another Neapolitan nobleman, the Duke Maddaloni.

The success of his Mass brought Pergolesi another commission: an opera, L'Olimpiade, for the 1735 Carnival season in Rome. The opera was a failure; fortunately, Pergolesi's last stage effort, Il flaminio, a comedy, was successfully produced in Naples. In 1736, Pergolesi, suffering from tuberculosis, moved to the Franciscan monastery in Pozzuoli. During his final year, he composed the Stabat Mater, which contemporaries lauded as a successful introduction of the new galant style into the traditional domain of church music.

Pergolesi's Stabat Mater was first published in London, in 1749, eventually becoming the most frequently printed musical composition in the eighteenth century. La serva padrona, based on a story about a witty servant girl who plots to marry her elderly master, enjoyed great success in Europe following Pergolesi's death. In 1752, a performance of this work in Paris sparked the famous Querelle des Bouffons (Quarrel of the Comedians), the dispute between the supporters of Italian opera and the patriotic traditionalists, who favored French opera. During this dispute, La serva padrona was upheld as representative of the Italian operatic genius. Eighteenth-century critics, as well as ordinary listeners, admired the opera's brilliant characterization and masterful plot development. Admired in the eighteenth century, this concise stage work, which possesses a timeless charm, has been appreciated by generations of listeners. -- Zoran Minderovic





Stabat mater, for soprano, alto, strings & organ in F major
Composition Date 1736 -1736

Description
Completed shortly before his death in 1736, Pergolesi's Stabat mater dolorosa (sorrowfully his mother stood) was composed for use at the Church of Santa Maria dei Sette Dolori in Naples to replace the setting of the same text by Alessandro Scarlatti. Like its predecessor, Pergolesi's Stabat mater is for soprano and contralto soloists with two violins and continuo. The work's immediate popularity prompted numerous printings and arrangements; it is still unusual to hear a performance of the original version. After its first London publication of 1749, Pergolesi's Stabat mater became the most frequently printed work of the eighteenth century.
Part of the Catholic liturgical tradition, the text of the Stabat mater originated among Franciscans in the thirteenth century. In the late fifteenth century it began to appear as a sequence in the Mass of the Compassion of the Blessed Virgin Mary; the plainchant melody to which it is set developed at about the same time. The Council of Trent (1543-63) removed the text from the liturgy, but it was reinstated in 1727 by Pope Benedict XIII. Eventually, it came to be part of the Office for the Friday after Passion Sunday. The Stabat mater came to the United States through the variants of the English service, although settings by Josquin, Palestrina, Lassus, and many others preserve the Continental versions.

Shortly before his death on March 16, 1736, Pergolesi moved to the Franciscan monastery in Pozzuoli, where he composed his last works. Among these is his Stabat mater. The piece reveals the infusion into church composition of the operatic style. One of these aspects has come to be called the "church aria," an aria-like setting of a sacred text. In comparison to Scarlatti's slightly earlier setting, Pergolesi's features a more lively declamation of the text and greater melodic appeal, deriving from his preference for that type of writing as found in his operas. In general, the music is more expressive. Underlying everything, however, is a contrapuntal background that was expected in music composed for the church. -- John Palmer