About the composer
Franz Liszt is of German origin, but was born in Raiding, nowadays Austria, in 1811. In
those years Austria-Hungary was a sort of political unity and as he grew up in Hungary the
Hungarians regard Liszt as an Hungarian and refer to him as Ferenc Liszt. Like Mozart he
was a musical child prodigy, especially as a pianist. One of his first recitals occurred
at the age of 9 years. After winning a piano player contest in 1836 he became immensely
popular in all Europe. After living in Paris for some 10 years he moved in 1848 to Weimar
in Germany, where he became tutor of a whole generation of young pianists and
composers, among who were Borodin, Saint-Saëns and Smetana. In his later years Liszt
became not only more and more interested in church music, but he was deeply religious and
finally received minor orders of the church and became Abbé Liszt. He died in 1886 in
Bayreuth.
Liszt composed a large amount of music for piano, but also symphonic works, rhapsodies, a
requiem, several masses and oratorio. Among these we find the oratorio
"Christus", which contains not only a full scale Stabat Mater Dolorosa, but also
a Stabat Mater Speciosa. Furthermore, Liszt did use the first stanza of the poem in
his "Via Crucis" . This composition is a musical setting of the fourteen
Stations of the Way of the Crucifixion, by soloists, choir and organ. In the three
Stations where Jesus stumbles, the female part of the choir sings this stanza.
Finally, Liszt frequently made transcriptions for piano from famous compositions of other
composers; one was Rossini's Stabat Mater. Though these transcriptions are nowadays
somewhat looked down upon, one should realize that for many people in those days it was
the only way to get acquainted with Beethoven's symphonies or Verdi's operas.
About the Stabat Mater (dolorosa and speciosa)
| Date | 1866 |
| Performers | Soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, bass, choir and orchestra with harmonium (dolorosa), and choir and organ (speciosa). |
| Length | CD1: 38.42 minutes (dolorosa), 15.20 minutes (speciosa), CD2: 29.30 |
| Particulars | The Dolorosa, the twelfth movement of the oratorio, receives
a very dramatic setting. The composition is a musical portrait of all the emotional and
conceptual contents of the various stanzas. The Speciosa forms the third movement of the oratorio. Contrary to the Dolorosa it is far removed from the Romantic pathos and is sung as a hymn with a simple, noble melody. |
| Textual variations | The text according to "Analecta" is used for the
Dolorosa, but with following changes: - Stanza 4, line 2: not "Et tremebat cum videbat" but "Pia Mater, dum videbat" - Stanza 6, line 2: not "Piam Matrem" but "Christi Matrem" - Stanza 14, line 2: not "Te libenter sociare" but "Et me tibi sociare" - Stanza 16, line 2: not "Passionis eius sortem" but "Passionis fac consortem" - Stanza 17, lines 2 and 3: not "Cruce hac inebriari, ob amorem Filii" but "Fac me cruce inebriari, et cruore Filii" The text of the Speciosa is discussed on a separate page. |
| CD 1 | Hungaroton HCD 12831-33: Ferenc Liszt, Christus |
| About this CD | A complete recording (3 CD's) of the Oratorio on the
Words of the Holy Bible and the Catholic Liturgy for Voices, Choir, Organ and Orchestra. It was recorded in September 1985. I bought this CD in a record shop in the Netherlands, 1998 |
| Orchestra | Hungarian State Orchestra |
| Choir | Hungarian State and Television Chorus |
| Conductor | Antal Dorati |
| Soloists | Veronika Kincses, soprano Klára Tákacs, mezzo-soprano János B.Nagy, tenor László Polgár, bass |
| Other works | |
| Added | 1998 (LIS 04) |
| CD 2 | KRO ES47.445 : Stabat Mater |
| About this CD | The recording of the sixth concert organized by the Dutch
Stabat Mater Foundation. Recorded at the Sint Petrus Church, Oirschot, in March 2004. |
| Orchestra | Het Brabants Orkest |
| Choir | Brabant Koor |
| Conductor | Marc Soustrot |
| Soloists | Izabella Klosinska, soprano Bea Robein, mezzo-soprano Alex Vermeulen, tenor Andreas Jankowitsch, bariton |
| Other works | Karol Szymanowski: Stabat Mater |
| Added` | 2004 (LIS 05) |
E-mail:
stabatmater@dds.nl