A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Stabat Mater

by William Smyth Rockstro

STABAT MATER (Planctus Beatæ Virginis Mariæ; The Lamentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary). A Sequence or Prose, appointed, in the Roman Missal, to be sung between the Epistle and the Gospel, at High Mass, on the Friday in Passion Week, and the Third Sunday in September: and divided into three portions, in the Antiphonarium, for use, on the same two days, as Office Hymns. The Stabat Mater is also sung, in the Sistine Chapel, as an Offertorium, on the Thursday in Holy Week; and it has long been the custom, both here and on the Continent, to interpose its separate stanzas between the fourteen divisions of the Stations of the Cross. The Poem written, towards the close of the 13th century by Jacobus de Benedictis,^[1] is one of the finest examples of mediæval Latin prose, second only to the 'Dies iræ' of Thomas de Celano. Several readings of it are extant;^[2] the one most frequently set to Music being that which immediately preceded its last revision in the Roman Office Books. There are also at least four distinct versions of its Plain Chaunt Melody, apart from minor differences attributable to local usage. The most important of these is one in the First Mode, given in the Ratisbon edition of the Gradual. The Ratisbon Vesperal contains another, in the same Mode, but entirely different. The Mechlin Office-Books contain yet another distinct form, in the Fourth Mode. Finally, it seems to have been sung, in the 15th century, to a Melody, in the Thirteenth Mode, known also as 'Comme feme.'

The beauty of the Poem has rendered it so great a favourite with Composers, that the number of fine settings we possess is very great. The earliest example that demands special notice is the 'Stabat Mater' of Josquin des Prés, founded upon the Canto fermo just mentioned, in the Thirteenth Mode transposed.^[3] So elaborate is the construction of this work, that not one of the most highly-developed of the Composer's Masses surpasses it. The Canto fermo is sustained by the Tenor, in Larges, Longs, and Breves, throughout, while four other Voices accompany it, in Florid Counterpoint, in constant and ingenious Imitation of the most elaborate character.

But not even Josquin's masterpiece will bear comparison with the two grand settings of the 'Stabat Mater' by Palestrina, either of which, as Baini observes, would alone have sufficed to immortalise him. The first and best-known of these, written for a Double-Choir of eight Voices, has long been annually sung, in the Sistine Chapel, on the Thursday in Holy Week, and was first published by Burney in his 'La Musica della Settimana Santa,' on the authority of a copy given to him by Santarelli.^[4] It is enough to say that the Composition signalises the author of the 'Missa Papæ Marcelli' in every page; and, that the opening phrase, containing a progression of three Major Chords, on a Bass descending by Major Seconds, produces one of the most original and beautiful effects ever heard in Polyphonic Music.

Palestrina's second 'Stabat Mater' is written for twelve Voices, disposed in three Choirs; and is, in every way, a worthy companion to the preceding work.^[5] Ambros, indeed, denies its authenticity, and, on the authority of an entry in the catalogue of the Altaemps-Ottoboni Collection in the Library of the Collegio Romano, refers it to Felice Anerio, notwithstanding Baini's decisive verdict in its favour: but, the internal evidence afforded by the work itself is enough to remove all doubt on the subject. It is not only a genuine work, but one of the finest Palestrina ever wrote. For the effect produced by the union of the three Choirs, at the words, 'O quam tristis,' as well as the manner of their alternation, in other parts of the Sequence, we must refer our readers to the work itself, in the 7th volume of Breitkopf & Härtel's complete edition.

Few modern settings of the 'Stabat Mater,' with Orchestral Accompaniments, are finer than (1) that by Pergolesi, for Soprano and Contralto, accompanied by Strings and Organ (to which Paisiello afterwards supplied 'Additional Accompaniments' for Wind). (2) Haydn's 'Stabat Mater' is a treasury of refined and graceful Melody. (3) Next in importance to this we must rank a very fine one, for six Voices, with Accompaniments for two Violins, three Viole, Basso, and Organo, composed by Steffani, who presented it to the 'Academy of Antient Musick' in London, on his election as Honorary President for life, in 1724. (4) Clari wrote another beautiful one, which is among the Fitzwilliam MSS. at Cambridge. (5) A nearly contemporary work, by Astorga, is one of the best Italian productions of its period.^[6] (6) Winter's Stabat Mater may be taken as a happy example of his refined and graceful style; and, if not a great work, is at least a remarkably pleasing one. (7, 8, 9, 10) The Royal College of Music possesses a Stabat Mater à 3 by Pietro Raimondi; with one composed by Padre Vito, in 1783, and two others, by Gesualdo Lanza, and the Spanish Composer, Angelo Inzenga. (11) The Chevalier Neukomm also wrote one which was very popular among his disciples. (12) Very different from all these is the setting of the text which has made its words familiar to thousands, if not millions, who would never otherwise have heard of them. We do not pause to enquire whether the sensuous beauty of Rossini's 'Stabat Mater' is worthy of the subject, or not: but we do say, of critics who judge it harshly, and dilettanti who can listen to it unmoved, that they must either be casehardened by pedantry, or destitute of all 'ear for Music.' (13) Yet, even this does not represent the latest interpretation of these beautiful verses, which have been illustrated, in still more modern, and very different musical phraseology, by Dvorák.^[7]

[ W. S. R. ]

1. Ob. 1306.
2. See Daniel's 'Thesaurus Hymnologicus.' (Halls, 1841.)
3. Pietro Aron quotes this fine Composition as an example of the Fifth Mode; and Zarlino, as one of the Eleventh. For an explanation of these apparent discrepancies, see vol. ii. p. 342a, and vol. iii. p. 261a, in foot-note. The work was first printed in Petrucci's 'Motetti della Corona,' Lib. iii. No. 6 (Fossombrone, 1519). About forty years ago, Choron reprinted it in Score, in Paris; and in 1881 It was given in the Notenbeilagen to Ambros's ' Geschichte der Musik,' p. 61. The 'Gluck Society' performed it, in London, on May 24, 1881.
4. It was afterwards published, in Paris, by Choron; and by Alfieri, in his 'Raccolta di Musica sacra,' vol. vi. (Roma, 1845.) It has since appeared in vol. vii. of Breitkopf's complete edition. For an interesting criticism upon it see Oulibichef's 'Nouvelle Biographie de Mozart,' ii. 72. He was perhaps the first to call attention to it. It has been recently edited, with marks of expression, introduction of solo voices, and other changes, by Wagner.
5. First printed in Alfieri's 'Raccolta,' vol. vii. (Roma, 1846).
6. Published in score by Breitkopf & Härtel (1879).
7. 'Stabat Mater für Soli, Chor, u. Orchester' (Simrock, 1881). Performed by the London Musical Society, March 1883.