Johann Simon MAYR Stabat mater in F minor Eja mater • Ave maris stella Brown • Yun • Holzhauser • Sellier • Schäfer • Hamann • Mischok Simon Mayr Chorus • Members of the Bavarian State Chorus Concerto de Bassus • I Virtuosi Italiani Franz Hauk Johann Simon Mayr (1763–1845) Stabat mater in F minor • Eja mater in F major • Ave maris stella in G major Johann Simon Since the turn of the 18th century, especially in Italy and solemn procession ended in the basilica. After the Funzione southern Germany, the Stabat mater has been considered delle Sette Parole – the Seven Words of Jesus on the Cross – an expression of devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and there was a sung Passion. This was followed by l’Adorazione MAYR openness to Christ’s sufferings. These compositions were della Croce – the Adoration of the Cross. For this purpose, (1763–1845) seldom written for the Friday of Sorrows and the Feast of a huge replica of the Holy Sepulchre broadly resembling the Seven Sorrows introduced in 1727; they were more likely Temple of Solomon was constructed in the basilica. As the 1 to be performed in the context of paraliturgical services faithful filed in to pray before the tomb, the capella sang the ................................................................................ Stabat mater in F minor 53:57 contemplating the Passion. Pergolesi’s Stabat mater, which Stabat mater. Although this was a paraliturgical service, Mayr’s 1 I. Stabat mater ........................................................................................................................7:46 was written in 1736 for a noble brotherhood based in Naples, Stabat mater settings essentially follow the liturgical text. 2 II. O quam tristis ......................................................................................................................7:08 became famous. Joseph Haydn’s (1767) belongs in the same Mayr’s Stabat mater in F minor exists in the first instance 3 tradition. in two basic framing versions. The setting that is probably the III. Quis est homo ....................................................................................................................7:03 Mayr held a range of Stabat mater settings with earlier of the pair only covers the first two and the last three 4 IV. Pro peccatis .......................................................................................................................6:30 instrumental accompaniment in his well-stocked music library lines of the text. The version that is probably later comprises 5 in Bergamo, including works by Ferdinando Bertoni, Niccolò a fresh setting of the whole of the first verse, plus an ‘Eja V. Eja mater .............................................................................................................................3:56 Jommelli, Benedetto Marcello, Johann Gottlieb Naumann, mater’ in E flat major and, again, the concluding ‘Quando 6 VI. Sancta mater .....................................................................................................................9:27 Giovanni Battista Pergolesi and Abbé Vogler. corpus morietur’. Here Mayr quotes from the ‘Agnus Dei’ of 7 VII. Inflammatus ......................................................................................................................6:29 All the musicians in the cappella took part in the two Masses by Joseph Haydn: the Missa in tempore belli celebration of Holy Week, a liturgical event of the first order. (‘Nelson Mass’) and the Missa Sancti Bernardi von Offida 8 VIII. Quando corpus ................................................................................................................5:38 In 1803 the Misericordia Maggiore produced a printed (‘Heiligmesse’). The solo timpani writing is also inspired by the set of basic guidelines for the conduct and deployment of great Viennese composer. Mayr recycled the opening of the 9 2 musicians, entitled Capitoli / ed obblighi generali. It lays down last movement in the ‘Huic ergo’ of his great Requiem. Eja mater in F major ............................................................................................2:38 specifications for the following musical activities (Steffan, p. The sections of the text that were still missing were filled in 343): using so-called versetti volanti (‘detached versets’). This can, 0 3 of course, lead to gaps in the text or to overlapping sections, Ave maris stella in G major ...........................................................................3:19 Mercoledì Santo Dopo pranzo per l’offizio but in the context of contemporary practice, that does not Giovedì Santo Messa, e Vespri seem to have been a problem. The movements belonging WORLD PREMIERE RECORDINGS Venerdì Santo Dopo Pranzo to the Stabat mater – solo arias – can be identified firstly by Sabbato Santo Messa, e Compiette means of references on the title pages of the individual scores and by the forces used, and secondly by means of a bassoon Andrea Lauren Brown, Soprano 3, Jaewon Yun, Soprano 1 / 2 Holy Wednesday After the midday meal for the office part amongst the material belonging to the first version, written, 1 / 2 / 3 3 1 / 2 Holy Thursday Mass and Vespers probably later, by Mayr himself and containing the complete Theresa Holzhauser, Alto • Markus Schäfer, Tenor , Robert Sellier, Tenor Holy Friday After the midday meal earlier version of the Stabat mater in F minor. Jens Hamann, Bass 1 / 2, Virgil Mischok, Bass 3 Holy Saturday Mass and concluding services Mayr kept on going back to the work and composing 1 / 3 additional parts, probably on the one hand so that he had a Simon Mayr Chorus Santa Maria Maggiore had been exempt from episcopal setting for larger forces available, and on the other hand in Members of the Bavarian State Opera Chorus 1 / 3 jurisdiction since 1453, and the church enjoyed, in the order to be able to use the individual movements in settings of 3 Congregazione di Carità or Misericordia Maggiore, a status the Stabat mater for different forces. I Virtuosi Italiani (Concertmaster: Alberto Martini) close to that of a brotherhood. This made it easier for it to In his survey of Mayr’s sacred works, his first biographer, 1 / 2 Concerto de Bassus (Concertmaster: Theona Gubba-Chkheidze) develop its own traditions. Angela Pachowsky has described Girolamo Calvi, highlights the Stabat mater in F minor ‘per the particular circumstances: in 1630, to commemorate a la viva espressione e pel merviglioso effetto’ (‘for its vivid Franz Hauk plague epidemic they had just lived through, the residents of expression and its marvellous effect’; Nos. 364–368). He also Bergamo established an annual procession taking place on praises the ‘O quam tristis’: ‘… che manifestano la malinconia Holy Thursday, in which the whole town was involved. The e l’amaritudine di che dovea esser compresa la dolente Madre, e sovra gli altri, per la sentita espressione delle parole, vuolsi tecum lugeam’ – ‘O Mother, fountain of love, make me feel the Markus Schäfer osservare quello in fa con uscite di violoncello.’ (‘… in which power of sorrow, that I may grieve with you’), Mayr produces The tenor Markus Schäfer studied singing and church music in Karlsruhe and Düsseldorf with Armand are manifest the melancholy and bitterness of the sorrowing a setting without the upper strings which contrasts woodwind McLane. He was a prize-winner in Berlin and Milan and made his début at the Zurich Opera Studio, followed mother, and in addition for the heartfelt expression of the and horns with the four vocal soloists. by engagements at the Hamburg State Opera and the Düsseldorf Oper am Rhein. His subsequent career words, as in the one in F with the cello interjections’; Nos. In the Liturgy of the Hours of the Catholic church, the has brought appearances in major theatres and concert halls in Europe and America, collaborating with 369–372). The ‘Pro peccatis’ he finds to be ‘di celestiale hymn Ave maris stella (‘Hail, star of the sea’), which dates distinguished conductors and a number of award-winning recordings. He teaches singing at the Hochschule bellezza’ (‘of a heavenly beauty’; No. 375), the ‘Sancta mater’ back to the eighth century, is sung at Vespers on Marian Feast für Musik und Theater, Hanover. is ‘molto bello’ (‘very beautiful’; No. 380), and in considering the days. Mayr’s setting – of four of the seven verses – draws its www.tenor-markus-schaefer.de ‘Inflammatus’, Calvi notes that it is ‘di bellezza straordinaria per inspiration from the popular character of the text – instrumental la forza che domina in tutto il pezzo e per la maestria con cui è figuration and the entry of additional voices progressively Robert Sellier condotto’ (‘of extraordinary beauty by virtue of the vehemence heighten the intensity of a catchy tune that recurs throughout The tenor Robert Sellier was born in Munich in 1979 and studied at the Augsburg Musikhochschule. He sang which dominates the entire piece and the skill with which it is in the manner of a refrain. Emilio in Mozart’s Il sogno di Scipione at the Stadttheater Klagenfurt and the Salzburg Festival. At Theater written’; No. 383). Bielefeld he undertook at short notice the role of Belmonte and, at the Berlin Comic Opera, of Count Almaviva in In the alternative Eja mater, the ninth verse of the Stabat Franz Hauk Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia. He performed at the Theater Augsburg, and from 2007 to 2012 was a permanent mater (‘Eia mater, fons amoris, me sentire vim doloris fac ut Translation: Sue Baxter member of the Munich Staatstheater