Stabat Mater (Vivaldi)
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 Brescia in 1712.
Instrumentation
The work is scored for violins I & II, violas, solo alto or countertenor and basso continuo.Movements
Vivaldi's setting of the 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.The composition is structured into nine movements as follows:
- Stabat mater dolorosa
- Cujus animam gementem
- O quam tristis et afflicta
- Quis est homo
- Quis non posset contristari
- Pro peccatis suae gentis
- Eia mater, fons amoris
- Fac ut ardeat cor meum
- Amen