Post by erik on Oct 31, 2020 15:29:43 GMT -5
Antonin Dvorak's most popular sacred composition (albeit one that is nearly as long as Giuseppe Verdi's famous Manzoni Requiem) is in this week's Classical Works Spotlight.
Dvorak: STABAT MATER, OP. 58
When he wasn’t combining his Bohemian music language with the formal structuralism of the Austro-German symphonic style that he learned from his good friend and supporter Johannes Brahms, Antonin Dvorak would occasionally veer into the realm of sacred and choral music. Such was the case in 1876 with his setting of the “Stabat Mater”, the 13th century Christian hymn to Mary that consists of twenty stanzas, all in the traditional Latin. Dvorak is said to have composed this large-scale setting in response to the tragic death in August 1875 of his daughter Josefa when she was only two days old, but 21st century music scholars have questioned this. The compose sketched out this setting for three months during the early part of 1876, but he set it aside until the following year, when his two surviving children passed away. It wasn’t until 1880 that the work was first heard, in Prague; and it became one of the composer’s greatest success stories Dvorak’s fellow Czech Leos Janacek led a performance of this work in Brno in 1882, followed by two performances in London in 1883 and 1884. Although America had to wait until the composer’s arrival on U.S. shores in 1893 to hear the work, it too became a sizeable hit for Dvorak on this side of the Atlantic as well. At 87 minutes, it is the longest of his sacred works; given the era in which it was composed, however, it is relatively restrained in its orchestration: besides woodwinds, strings, and four horns, it requires a tuba, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, a tuba, and organ, along with four vocal soloists and mixed choir.
Soprano: MARIANA ZVETKOVA
Mezzo-Soprano: RUXANDRA DONOSE
Tenor: JOHAN BOTHA
Bass: ROBERTO SCANDLUZZI
Dresden State Opera Chorus
Dresden State Orchestra/GIUSEPPE SINOPOLI (Deutsche Grammophon)
Dvorak: STABAT MATER, OP. 58
When he wasn’t combining his Bohemian music language with the formal structuralism of the Austro-German symphonic style that he learned from his good friend and supporter Johannes Brahms, Antonin Dvorak would occasionally veer into the realm of sacred and choral music. Such was the case in 1876 with his setting of the “Stabat Mater”, the 13th century Christian hymn to Mary that consists of twenty stanzas, all in the traditional Latin. Dvorak is said to have composed this large-scale setting in response to the tragic death in August 1875 of his daughter Josefa when she was only two days old, but 21st century music scholars have questioned this. The compose sketched out this setting for three months during the early part of 1876, but he set it aside until the following year, when his two surviving children passed away. It wasn’t until 1880 that the work was first heard, in Prague; and it became one of the composer’s greatest success stories Dvorak’s fellow Czech Leos Janacek led a performance of this work in Brno in 1882, followed by two performances in London in 1883 and 1884. Although America had to wait until the composer’s arrival on U.S. shores in 1893 to hear the work, it too became a sizeable hit for Dvorak on this side of the Atlantic as well. At 87 minutes, it is the longest of his sacred works; given the era in which it was composed, however, it is relatively restrained in its orchestration: besides woodwinds, strings, and four horns, it requires a tuba, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, a tuba, and organ, along with four vocal soloists and mixed choir.
Soprano: MARIANA ZVETKOVA
Mezzo-Soprano: RUXANDRA DONOSE
Tenor: JOHAN BOTHA
Bass: ROBERTO SCANDLUZZI
Dresden State Opera Chorus
Dresden State Orchestra/GIUSEPPE SINOPOLI (Deutsche Grammophon)
