MARTIN: (Singing) Da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, dum (ph). MARTIN: As a very simple, rather dreary, tune. MARTIN: I actually wrote the whole piece as a set of variations on a little hymn tune, which is sung in a lot of Catholic churches during the stations of the cross. And I think we’ve had enough of that in our world. And so I decided to focus on that and make the whole piece really positive as opposed to – there’s a lot of “Stabat Maters” where they’re concentrating on the weeping, weeping. I’m a composer from Estonia.įIRSOVA: I was most inspired by the end of the poem because it all leads up to paradise where the mother can be reunited with her son. MATTHEW MARTIN: I’m Matthew Martin and I am a British composer. I was born in Moscow, but have been living in England since I was 4 years old. These are some of their thoughts.ĪLISSA FIRSOVA: My name is Alissa Firsova. SHAPIRO: I asked each of the three composers to describe how they approached this text. STUDZINSKI: There are so few sources of unconditional love in society, and I think the mother and the relationship the mother has with the child is probably the only major source of unconditional love. The CD is called “Stabat Mater: Spirit, Strength and Sorrow.” His organization commissioned three composers to write new choral arrangements of this poem. SHAPIRO: John Studzinski is a philanthropist who founded the Genesis Foundation to support young artists. And how that dignity is something that’s – is sort of the bedrock of humanity
JOHN STUDZINSKI: It’s all to do with the sort of dignity of the relationship between the mother and the child and the child and the mother. It is an ancient story with contemporary echoes – a mother suffering as her son dies. The text describes Mary weeping at the cross over Jesus. Many great composers have set it to music over the years – Haydn, Vivaldi, Rossini. “Stabat Mater” is a Catholic poem from the 13th century. The words of this song come from an ancient Latin text. “The three ‘Amens’ I wrote at the very end,” he says, “was a kind of goodbye for me to this text. Kõrvits says the key, for him, comes at the last page. People use them in sad songs, like lamentations or if someone has died.” “In the Stabat Mater I used a scale from Southeast Estonia, which is actually very Oriental. “It somehow comes unconsciously to my music, using Estonian folk tunes or scales from our folk tunes,” Kõrvits says. Every mother can tell a tale.”įor Estonian composer Tõnu Kõrvits, working in a language beside his own provided a new challenge, but one tempered by the wealth of folk melodies from his homeland. Mothers suffer in all sorts of ways, through war, through violence. “The mother weeping over her son and the range of emotions it goes through is quite amazing.
“In the Stabat Mater you have a range of emotions,” Christophers says.
They recorded the new works for an album titled Stabat Mater: Spirit, Strength & Sorrow.īritish composer Matthew Martin borrows music from a simple Catholic hymn called “ Stabat Mater,” while focusing on the variety of drama inherent in the text. “What we were looking for from these three new commissions was something that was very spiritual, very mystical,” says the group’s director, Harry Christophers. The British choral group called The Sixteen has been singing the new settings of the Stabat Mater. And I think we’ve had enough of that in our world.” And so I decided to focus on that and make the whole piece really positive, as opposed to a lot of Stabat Maters where they’re concentrating on the weeping, weeping. “I was most inspired by the end of the poem,” Firsova says, “because it all leads up to Paradise, where the mother can be reunited with her son. While the Catholic poem has been set to music by many - from Vivaldi to Arvo Pärt - three contemporary composers have put their own spin on the old verses.Īlissa Firsova was born in Moscow, but has lived in England since she was 4. The words of the Stabat Mater come from an ancient Latin text describing Mary weeping at the cross over her son, Jesus.
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