Stabat Mater (Poulenc)
| Stabat Mater | |
|---|---|
| Choral music by Francis Poulenc | |
| Catalogue | FP 148 |
| Text | Stabat Mater |
| Language | Latin |
| Composed | 1950 |
| Performed | 1951 |
| Scoring |
|
Stabat Mater, FP 148, is a musical setting of the Stabat Mater sequence composed by Francis Poulenc in 1950. 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 in 1951 at the Strasbourg Festival. The Stabat Mater was well-received throughout Europe, and in the United States it won the New York Critics’ Circle Award for Best Choral Work of the year.[2]
Structure
The Stabat Mater is divided into twelve movements,[3] 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.
- Stabat mater dolorosa (Très calme)
- Cujus animam gementem (Allegro molto--Très violent)
- O quam tristis (Très lent)
- Quae moerebat (Andantino)
- Quis est homo (Allegro molto—Prestissimo)
- Vidit suum (Andante)
- Eja mater (Allegro)
- Fac ut ardeat (Maestoso)
- Sancta mater (Moderato--Allegretto)
- Fac ut portem (To. de Sarabande)
- Inflammatus et accensus (Animé et très rythmé)
- 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
- Piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets (B♭), bass clarinet, 3 bassoons
- 4 French horns, 3 trumpets (C), 3 trombones, tuba
- Timpani, 2 Harps
- Strings
- Soprano solo, SATB Chorus (divisi)
References
- ^ Mellers.
- ^ Hell.
- ^ Schmidt 1995.
Source texts
- Hell, Henri 1959, Francis Poulenc, London: John Calder
- Ivry, Benjamin 1996, Francis Poulenc (20th-Century Composers series), Phaidon Press, ISBN 0-7148-3503-X.
- Mellers, Wilfrid 1993, Francis Poulenc, New York: Oxford University Press
- Schmidt, Carl B. (1995). The Music of Francis Poulenc (1899–1963): A Catalogue. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0-19-816336-7.
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