Stabat Mater in G minor

The parish church in Lichtental, also known as Schubertkirche. The Stabat Mater is thought to have been composed for liturgical use in the church.

Stabat Mater in G minor, D 175, is a musical setting of the Latin Stabat Mater sequence, composed by Franz Schubert in April 1815.[1] It is scored for SATB choir, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, 3 trombones, violin I and II, viola, and basso continuo (cello, double bass and organ).

This setting contains four stanzas of the twenty stanzas of the sequence. After a short orchestral interlude, these four stanzas are repeated with "far-reaching variation".[2] Its structure as a single continuous movement is unusual; most of Schubert's sacred works (not including masses) were composed as one movement divided into three sections.[3] While settings of the Stabat Mater developed into a staple of concert music by the late 19th century, it is thought that this piece would have been performed for liturgical use in the Lichtental Church.[4]

Schubert's original manuscript indicates that he wished to score the piece with horns, rather than trombones. However, the early horn was valveless, limiting it from producing certain notes; the minor key setting made it impossible to perform the work with horns.[2]

A year later, Schubert composed his Stabat Mater in F minor, D 383. This was a far longer work in the form of a short oratorio, and the text used was a German paraphrase of the Latin text, as written by F. G. Klopstock.

References

  1. ↑ Howie, Crawford (2008). "Small is beautiful: Schubert's smaller sacred works". In Reul, Barbara M.; Bodley, Lorraine Byrne. The Unknown Schubert. p. 69.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Newbould, Brian (1999). Schubert: The Music and the Man. p. 139.
  3. ↑ Shrock, Dennis (2009). Choral Repertoire. p. 383.
  4. ↑ Black, Leo (2003). Franz Schubert: Music and Belief. p. 26.

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