About the composer
Giovanni Gualberto Brunetti (1706 - 1787) lived a large part of his life in Pisa, Italy,
where he was director of music of the cathedral. Though he composed operas as well as
other works he composed mainly for the church. According to the musicologist Paolo Peretti
his Stabat Mater was more or less copied , in 1825, by Antonio Brunetti, probably a nephew
of his, who changed some things, replaced three sections by his own and sold it as his own
work: "Stabat Mater all'imitazione del'esimio Sig.Pergolesi". From this we might
conclude that in fact Giovanni Gualberto himself had already made an imitation of
Pergolesi's. Especially the first four parts have indeed a strong resemblance.
Nevertheless, though Giovanni took Pergolesi's as an example, his contribution to the
music is such, that it surely can be regarded as a work of his own. In this respect it is
interesting too, to notice that he used a different text than Pergolesi.
| Date | 1764 |
| Performers | Soprano, alto, choir and strings with organ |
| Length | 48.13 minutes |
| Particulars | The composition is divided into 13 parts, varying from 1 to 3 stanzas. An outstanding and unique feature is that the alto opens every part by singing the text in a "Gregorian" way, giving it a special flavour which I like very much. The third duet is interesting as each of the participants at the same time sings its own stanza. We find this also in Astorga's piece. The final choral "Amen" is a fugue, as so often in Stabat Maters from that era. |
| Textual variations | The "Vatican"-version of the text is used, but with
the following change: - Stanza 6, line 2: not "Christi Matrem" but "Matrem Christi" |
| CD | PAN Classics 510 077: G.G.Brunetti, Stabat Mater |
| About this CD | The CD highlights the way in which Brunetti paraphrased the
Pergolesi Stabat Mater. It also contains some plain chants, related to the same history. Recorded at the Altstetten Church in Zürich, July 1994. I bought this CD in a record shop in the Netherlands, 1997 |
| Orchestra | Ensemble Turicum |
| Choir | Ensemble Turicum |
| Soloists | Elena Mosuc, soprano Luiz Alves da Silva, countertenor |
| Other works | Plain chant: Introitus: Stabant juxta crucem Graduale: Dolorosa et lacrimabilis est Alleluia: O vos omnes Communio: Felices sensus |
E-mail:
stabatmater@dds.nl