Stabat Mater

Patric Standford Interview+Stabat Mater BBCRadio3 18-02-2010.mp3

BBC Radio 3 Standford introduces his Stabat Mater 18-02-2010

Patric Standford Stabat Mater extract.mp3

Sample: Stabat Mater extract

Date: 

1973

Duration: 

10 minutes

Instrumentation: 

  • Choral Music

Forces: 

SSATBB a cappella

The Stabat Mater is a 13th-century Catholic hymn to Mary conveying her grief and suffering as the mother of Jesus Christ during his crucifixion. It is a hymn for Good Friday attributed to the 13th century poet Jacopone da Todi (1230-1306). The piece is about weeping; technically a G-flat at the opening constantly searching for resolution, which it achieves only at the end with its cadence in a major key. Listen for the rich low C at its centre – the tonal balance to G-flat. 

This Stabat Mater ends the first dramatic part of Standford’s award winning Easter oratorio Christus Requiem, written for the Guildhall School of Music and City of London in 1973. This was the work Standford selected to open his choral retrospective recorded by the BBC Singers in the UK, in 2010.

Recording: 

Award/prize: 

Performance: 

Broadcast

5th April 2012

BBC Singers conducted by Paul Brough