About the composer
Giovanni Simone Mayr was born June 14, 1763 as Johann Simon Mayer in Mendorf (nowadays
Altmannstein), Bavaria, Germany. From 1789 he studied in Venice and soon he established
himself as one of the foremost opera composers in Italy. In 1802 he became Maestro di
Capella of the cathedral in Bergamo, where he stayed until his death in december 1845. He
composed not only more than 600 pieces of sacred music, but also was a highly regarded
teacher (a.o. Donizetti). He composed a number of Stabat Maters, always using the cantata
form, in which choral pieces alternated with solo ones. The soloists often sing in
dialogue with one or more solo instruments. Interesting is, that the solo pieces were
treated as individual pieces, so that within the fixed bodies of the first and last
stanzas (Stabat and Quando) one had some choice in case some soloist was not available.
| Date | 1803 |
| Performers | Soprano, Tenor , Bass and orchestra |
| Length | 54.18 minutes |
| Particulars | The composition, called Stabat Mater nr. 3 in C minor, is divided into eight sections of two to six stanzas. The music sounds like a mixture of Donizetti and Rossini and is very nice to listen to. Dialogues can be heard between soprano and cello, tenor and clarinet, and bass and french horn. |
| Textual variations | The "Vatican"-version of the text is used, with
some minor changes. - Stanza 5, line 2: not "Matrem Christi" but "Christi Mater " - Stanza 6, line 2: not "Christi Matrem" but "Pia Matrem" - Stanza 17, line 2: not "Fac me cruce" but "Cruce hac" |
| CD | Dynamic CDS 242: Giovanni Simone Mayr, Stabat Mater |
| About this CD | A reconstruction of the Stabat Mater of a composer who was
a great man in his time, but nearly forgotten nowadays. No data about where and when the recording was made. I bought this CD in a record shop in the Netherlands, 1999 |
| Orchestra | Orchestra da Camera degli Incontri Europei con la Musica |
| Choir | Coro Polifonico Antiche Armonie |
| Conductor | Pieralberto Cattaneo |
| Soloists | Elena Bertocchi, soprano Sergio Rocchi, tenor Giovanni Guerini, bass |
| Other works | |
| Added | 1999 MAY 01 |
E-mail:
stabatmater@dds.nl