The sorrowful mother

Since 2022, a close collaboration has been underway between the Cathedral Parish of Stockholm and the School of Music and Opera at Mälardalen University. In this concert, we meet some of their singers in a programme built around the hymn Stabat mater.

Stabat mater was written in the early 14th century and reflects on Mary’s suffering at the crucifixion of Jesus. The text falls into three distinct sections: the first concerns contemplation, the second empathy, and the third the call to translate emotion into action. The poem has fascinated composers through the centuries.

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi was only 26 and dying of tuberculosis when he composed his Stabat mater, which nearly 300 years later remains a beloved staple in churches around the world. Less well known, but equally exquisite, is cello master Luigi Boccherini’s intimate version for soloists and chamber ensemble from 1781. Lennox Berkeley’s Stabat mater was written in 1947 for a concert tour with his close friend Benjamin Britten’s English Opera Group, scored for six solo voices and twelve instrumentalists.

Singers and accompanist from the School of Music and Opera at Mälardalen University

From the programme
Stabat Mater with music by Lennox Berkeley, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi and Luigi Boccherini among others.