Date/Time
30/03/2019 (19:30)

Location
Bedford Corn Exchange

Conductor: Ian Smith

With Bedford Sinfonia

Soloists: Elizabeth Bottone (soprano), Louise Crane (mezzo soprano), Justin Lavender (tenor),

Edward Grist (bass).

The Stabat Mater was first performed in Prague in 1880 (the second performance was conducted by Janáček). In 1884, Dvořák paid the first of nine visits to London, conducting the work himself; success in England also brought important financial rewards.

Dvořák’s music is a happy result of the influences of Wager, Brahms, classical and folk music. His innate gift for melody and orchestration reflects pastoral elements, and he shows mastery in form, counterpoint and harmony. The 14th-century poem is a mystical contemplation of a passage from John 19, describing Mary at the foot of the Cross lamenting Jesus’ fate. While the poem had inspired painters and poets over the centuries, this was the first musical setting since that of Rossini. The message is one of joy, and suffering leading to bliss.
Some critics have wrongly viewed Dvořák’s Stabat Mater as a collection of ten unrelated set pieces. However, there is an arch-like structure over the whole piece, from despair to faith. The opening and closing sections share thematic material (but with dramatic alteration at the climax of the finale). Other movements show progression in ideas, harmony and rhythmic patterns. Composed after the death of one child in 1875 and orchestrated after the deaths of his two surviving children in 1877, the work is profoundly meditative with transparent orchestration and without great theatrical effects. The rising octaves of the beginning symbolise the desolation of the Crucifixion high on Golgotha and the descending figure portrays the anguish and love of the Mater dolorosa. In the last movement, this material is heard in triumphant form, full of confidence in salvation. The minor-key description of the despair of Mary in the opening movements shifts to a more major key as the bass soloist begs to feel this love and anguish himself (no.4). The soloists and chorus also plead for this experience of grief and love as following movements return the music to the work’s principal key of D major. The alto solo (no. 9) is reminiscent of the Baroque style as she pleads for salvation through the love of Mary and the Passion of Christ. Arriving at the “Paradisi gloria” in the final movement must have given hope to the saddened Dvořák.