San Jose Episcopal Church Stabat Mater By Giovanni Battista Pergolesi Wednesday in Holy Week, March 31, 2021 at 7:00 p.m.

Kimberly Beasley, Soprano Hecate Smith, Countertenor Brandon Michael Smith, Organist

The offering collected will benefit our organ fundraiser.

About Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater Giovanni Battista Draghi, often referred to as Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, was an Italian composer, violinist and organist. His best-known works include his Stabat Mater and the opera La serva padrona (The Maid Turned Mistress). He was born in Jesi in 1710 and died in Pozzuoli in 1736, just 26 years old after battling tuberculosis. The Stabat Mater and the Regina Coeli were both composed in the final months of Pergolesi’s life. The Stabat Mater is a prayer of deep admiration for the weeping mother at the foot of the cross at the time of Christ’s crucifixion. Inspection of the Stabat Mater’s autograph reveals shaky handwriting, illegible passages, and many erasures and corrections. This suggests Pergolesi was churning out his work up until his final days. While it would be easy then to assume this work was written as a form of Requiem opus, it was actually a commission of the Knights of the Virgin of the Sorrows of the Confraternity of San Luigi at Palazzo. The commission was intended to replace the work of Alessandro Scarlatti which had been performed dutifully each Lent since 1724. The work, while frequently performed nowadays with one player to a part was more likely first performed with a string orchestra (multiple players to a part) as was the popular style in Naples. This piece has also been arranged for a variety of different ensembles by both well and lesser known composers. Frequently, the work was performed by treble choruses, many times with organ accompaniment (as you will hear today) and has also been used as the source for many choral works throughout the years. Pergolesi had made his artistic mark in only half a decade but his compositions were praised by many - even paraphrased by the great master Johann Sebastian Bach in his Psalm 51. This work, like much of his output was widely and warmly received across Europe and has endured for centuries. Brandon Michael Smith

Please hold all applause until the end of the concert.

1 Stabat Mater dolorosa Iuxta crucem lacrimosa Dum pendebat Filius. The grieving Mother stood weeping beside the cross where her Son was hanging.

2 Cuius animam gementem Contristatam et dolentem Pertransivit gladius. Through her weeping soul, compassionate and grieving, a sword passed.

3 O quam tristis et afflicta Fuit illa benedicta Mater unigeniti! O how sad and afflicted was that blessed Mother of the only-begotten!

4 Quae moerebat et dolebat, Pia Mater, dum videbat Nati poenas incliti. Who mourned and grieved, seeing and bearing the torment of her glorious child.

5 Quis est homo qui non fleret, Matrem Christi si videret In tanto supplicio? Quis non posset contristari, Piam matrem contemplari Dolentem cum filio? Pro peccatis suae gentis Vidit Iesum in torments Et flagellis subditum. Who is it that would not weep, seeing Christ’s Mother in such agony? Who would not be able to feel compassion on beholding Christ’s Mother suffering with her Son? For the sins of his people she saw Jesus in torment and subjected whips.

6 Vidit suum dulcem natum Moriendo desolatum Dum emisit spiritum. She saw her sweet child die desolate, as he gave up His spirit.

7 Eja Mater, fons amoris Me sentire vim doloris Fac, ut tecum lugeam. O Mother, fountain of love, make me feel the power of sorrow, that I may grieve with you.

8 Fac, ut ardeat cor meum In amando Christum Deum Ut sibi complaceam. Grant that my heart may burn in the love of Christ my God, that I may greatly please Him.

9 Sancta Mater, istud agas, Crucifixi fige plagas cordi meo valide. Holy Mother, may you do thus: place the wounds of the Crucified deep in my heart.

10 Fac ut portem Christi mortem, passionis fac consortem, et plagas recolere. Make me to bear Christ's death, sharing in His passion, and commemorate his wounds.

11 Inflammatus et accensus per te, Virgo, sim defensus in die iudicii. Fac me cruce custodiri morte Christi praemuniri confoveri gratia. Inflame and set on fire, may I be defended by you, Virgin, on the day of judgment. Let me be guarded by the cross, armed by Christ's death and His cherished by His grace.

12 Quando corpus morietur, fac ut animæ donetur Paradisi gloria. Amen. When my body dies, grant that to my soul is given the glory of paradise. Amen.

Translation © Hans van der Velden