About the composer
Emanuele d'Astorga (1680 - 1757) was born in Augusta, Sicily. He is without doubt
the most intriguing composer. It is a fact that he was a baron, and that he, as an officer
in the army, took part in crushing a Sicilian rebellion. When he was near 40 years of age
he married a fifteen years old girl, only to leave her with three children after seven
years. But he had taken care of her financial independence. After that, he journeyed
through all of Europe and it is not known exactly where and when he died.
Astorga was a self-made composer and never worked as a professional musician. He was
well-known for his chamber cantatas.
His life was a source of inspiration for many legends and stories. Not only a novel and a
two-part biography were written about him, but even a complete opera "Astorga",
in which the hero loses his mind and comes to his senses only after hearing the music of
his own Stabat Mater.
| Date | ± 1727 |
| Performers | Soprano, alto, tenor, bass, mixed choir, strings with organ |
| Length | 29.51 minutes |
| Particulars | The composition is very regularly divided into 9 parts of two
stanzas and one double duet of four stanzas. The structure is indeed consistent with the
textual scheme. The first two duets are interesting, as the two participants each sing their own stanza at the same time.The chorals are beautiful, especially the second, a fugue. The work ends with a fugue again, as a sign of hope in the key of C major. |
| Textual variations | The "Vatican"-version of the text is used, but with
the following changes: - Stanza 18, line 1: not "Flammis ne urar accensus" but "Inflammatus et accensus" - Stanza 19, line 1: not "Christe cum sit hinc exire" but "Christe cum sit iam exire" |
| CD | Harmonia Mundi DHM 5472 77369: Astorga, Stabat Mater - Pergolesi, Confitebor - Durante, Magnificat |
| About this CD | Recorded at the Evangelische Kirche, Gönningen, December
1995 I bought this CD in a record shop in the Netherlands in 1997. |
| Orchestra | Freiburger Barockorchester |
| Soloists | Ann Monoyios, soprano Bernard Landauer, alto Hans Jörg Mammel, Herman Oswald, tenor Ekkehard Abele, Johannes Happel, bass |
| Choir | Balthasar Neumann Chor |
| Conductor | Thomas Hengelbrock |
| Other works | Giovanni Battista Pergolesi: Confitebor tibi Domine Francesco Durante: Magnificat in B flat major |
E-mail:
stabatmater@dds.nl