Concert Introduction

Stabat Mater, a 13th century hymn and one of the seven great hymns of the mediaeval church, has long captivated many great minds. From the Renaissance Palestrina to the 20th century Arvo Pärt, composers throughout history have been drawn by the powerful dualism of the hymn: It narrates the Virgin Mary’s anguish at Christ’s crucifixion, and simultaneously speaks to the mortal soul as a mother witnessing her son’s death.  

Today, the name of Pergolesi and the Stabat Mater is almost always mentioned in the same breath. Like Mozart and his Requiem, Pergolesi wrote the Stabat Mater at his deathbed in a Franciscan monastery before dying of tuberculosis at the tender age of 26—his creative output barely lasted six years. Indeed, the final pages of Stabat Mater’s manuscript showed conspicuous signs of haste. This story of a young, dying genius spread throughout the whole of Europe, even influencing the elderly J.S. Bach to compose an arrangement of Pergolesi’s final work.  

While the posthumous romance may have been a contributing factor to the work’s enduring popularity, it is merely a sum of many parts. The transcendence of Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater lies in its delicate quality and Neapolitan simplicity, as the music was intended for an intimate group of faithful worshippers at the chapel of San Luigi di Palazzo in Naples. 

Red Dot Baroque and their collaborators present a historically informed performance of Pergolesi's Stabat Mater. Be enraptured by the sublime sounds of this 18th Century masterpiece.

Concert Details

• Pergolesi: Stabat Mater - The Grieving Mother
• Date: 25 - 27 Mar 2022
• Time: 17:00 | 20:00
• Venue: Esplanade Concert Hall
• Admission for ages 6 and above
  Note: Entry to this performance is by registration only.

Advisory:

From 1 Jan 2022, there will no longer be a concession for unvaccinated individuals to perform Pre-Event Testing in lieu of being fully vaccinated. All patrons (except for children aged 12 and below) need to be fully vaccinated#against COVID-19.

#Full vaccination refers to:

• having received the appropriate regimen of World Health Organisation Emergency Use Listing (WHO EUL) vaccines including their respective duration post-vaccination for the vaccine to be fully effective, and had their vaccination records ingested in MOH’s national IT systems
• recovery from a COVID-19 infection within the last 180 days
  All patrons are required to do SafeEntry check-in at the venue via the TraceTogether app (version 2.11 and above) or token only. Other modes of SafeEntry check-in will not be accepted.

Information Source: Esplanade