Stabat Mater (Poulenc)

Stabat Mater is a musical setting of the Stabat Mater sequence composed by Francis Poulenc in 1950. Poulenc composed 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, 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.

1. Stabat mater dolorosa (Très calme)
2. Cujus animam gementem (Allegro molto--Très violent)
3. O quam tristis (Très lent)
4. Quae moerebat (Andantino)
5. Quis est homo (Allegro molto—Prestissimo)
6. Vidit suum (Andante)
7. Eja mater (Allegro)
8. Fac ut ardeat (Maestoso)
9. Sancta mater (Moderato--Allegretto)
10. Fac ut portem (To. de Sarabande)
11. Inflammatus et accensus (Animé et très rythmé)
12. Quando corpus (Très calme)

The soprano 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

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

External links

• Latin text and English translation at Johnrpierce.com

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