Stabat Mater for solo alto and orchestra, RV 621, is a composition by the Italian baroque composer Antonio Vivaldi on one of the Sorrows of Mary. It was premiered in 1712.
Contents
Instrumentation
The work is scored for violins I & II, violas, solo alto or countertenor and basso continuo.
Movements
Vivaldi's Stabat Mater only uses the first ten stanzas of the hymn. The music is keyed in F minor, and is generally slow and melancholy, with allegro only being used once in the Amen, and all the other movements not going faster than andante. Movements 4, 5, and 6 are identical to the first three musically.
It is split into nine movements as follows:
- Stabat mater dolorosa
- Cujus animam gementem
- O quam tristis et afflicta
- Quis est homo
- Quis non posset contristari
- Pro peccattis suae gentis
- Eia mater, fons amoris
- Fac ut ardeat cor meum
- Amen
References
Stabat Mater (Vivaldi) Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA