Stabat Mater

In 1831-1832, Rossini composed a Stabat Mater for the Madrid prelate, Fernandez Varela. However, due to health problems, he asked Giovanni Tadolini to write half the movements. In 1841, he decided to complete the work to avoid putting his name to a score which, when published, was not composed solely by him. This Stabat Mater, by Rossini’s hand alone, was first performed in Paris at the Théâtre-Italien, on 7 January 1842, with soloists Giulia Grisi, Emma Albertazzi, Matteo Mario and Antonio Tamburini. Several movements illustrate the “authentic” style of religious music inspired by the Renaissance, a model which was gaining vast popularity at that time: a cappella voice in the Chorus and Recitative no. 5 and the Quartet no. 9, appearance of a contrapuntal style of writing (particularly in the double fugue of the final Amen). However, there were some who criticised the intrusion of secular elements which, on the contrary, delighted other listeners. The reviewer for the Revue des deux mondes admired “the religious sentiment, such as is understood by the Italians, poignant, sweet, harmonious, filled with touching melancholy, languorous, not at all sombre, reaching the point of tears, but never dread, and bringing life in the midst of death, rather than death in the midst of life. The great master will never be forgiven for […] understanding his time and unravelling its mysteries”. The titles of several of the movements (Aria, Cavatina), the vocal writing, the dotted rhythms and the dramatic quality of the orchestral contrasts actually draw their source from opera. Although Rossini may have turned his back on the stage after his Guillaume Tell of 1829, in this work he is indirectly reconnecting with opera.