Haydn: Stabat Mater (1767)

Joseph Haydn's large-scale Stabat Mater occupies a special place in his career as the first of his vocal works to achieve international acclaim, preceding the composer's later famous masses and oratorios. The work contains some of the composer's most profound and emotionally rich writing. He wrote the Stabat Mater without a specific commission, which was a departure from his usual obligatory compositions. But in the chapel at the Esterházy Palace, Haydn's predecessor, Werner, had established a tradition of performing grave music on Good Friday, and Haydn may have written his Stabat Mater in an effort to continue the custom.

Haydn's Stabat Mater was strongly influenced by the Neapolitan style, which had been dominant in Catholic sacred music since the early 18th century and could be heard in versions of the Stabat Mater by Scarlatti and Pergolesi. But the latter's bittersweet and popular setting was also criticized for its perceived lack of seriousness, and Haydn aimed for a more solemn tone. Of note is Haydn's use of minor keys in nearly half of the 13 movements, a departure from the norm in post-Baroque music.

Then, in the midst of his Sturm und Drang period, Haydn uses dramatic and daring harmonies and extreme chromaticism to heighten the drama and depiction of pain and anguish. Haydn also uses a large-scale tonal scheme to reflect this: after beginning in G minor, he deliberately moves through a series of keys, often linked by a descending third (the same melodic gesture used throughout the piece to represent tears and weeping), eventually arriving at the key of G major to evoke the final "Paradisi gloria.

Word-painting, or the use of musical gestures to illustrate individual words, also abounds in the piece. An example of this can be heard near the end of the opening "Stabat Mater," in which a gentle rhythmic pulse sends subtle ripples through the veneer of muted choral homophony, as if Mary's soul were being pierced by a sword.


The heart of the composition lies in the supplication movements, numbers 8 through 10. These begin with a soprano and tenor duet, "Sancta Mater, istud agas" (Holy Mother, do this for me), followed by a deeply felt alto solo, "Fac me vere tecum flere" (Make me truly weep for you), and culminate in a solo quartet and chorus, "Virgo virginum praeclara" (O Virgin, peerless among virgins). The exquisite madrigal writing for the four solo voices, juxtaposed with the chorus, creates an exceptionally graceful invocation.

Haydn's Stabat Mater was first performed in Eisenstadt on Good Friday, 1767. At the request of Hasse, to whom Haydn had tentatively sent the score, the piece was performed in Vienna the following year to great acclaim. Subsequently, the Stabat Mater became one of the composer's most popular sacred compositions, played in churches and chapels throughout Austria, southern Germany, and Bohemia. It was also a staple of the "concerts spirituels" in revolutionary Paris.

Davide Lorenzato conducts Vocalensemble AllaBreve & Tiroler Kammerorchester




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