About the composer
Michael Wolpe was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, in 1960. He started his education
studying agriculture and then served in the Israeli army, fighting in Lebanon.
He received his musical education at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and at
Cambridge University. Around 1985 he moved to the Kibbutz Sde Boker in the Negev
desert, where he still lives, the desert being one of his most important sources
of inspiration.
Wolpe's music is also influenced by Renaissance music, Jewish songs and Israeli
folk music and he uses religious themes as well as current events.
Michael Wolpe is a founder and musical director of the festival "Music in the
desert", where Israeli composers can present their new compositions.
He is a dedicated teacher of music.
About the Stabat Mater
| Date | 1994 |
| Performers | Mixed choir |
| Length | 24.00 minutes |
| Particulars | Wolpe dedicated the Stabat Mater to his mother
whom he lost when he was 14 years old. The composition is divided into 5
sections, each section containing some stanza's from the poem, to which are
added texts in Hebrew from Israeli poets and from Wolpe himself. As Wolpe himself writes: the music is not avant-garde and not classical, but is hovering in between. To my ears, there is great variation in tempo and melody, but it is always easy to listen to, and some parts are very moving. |
| Textual variations | The "Analecta"-version of the text is used, but
with some variations: - Stanza 16, line 2: Not "Passionis eius sortem" but "Passionis fac consortem" - Stanza 17, line 3: Not "Ob amorem Filii" but "Et cruore Filii" Moreover, in section 2 the English translation by Caswell is used in stead of the Latin text of stanzas 3 and 4, and in section 4 the German translation by Richard Wagner is used for stanzas 7 and 8. Stanza 10 is omitted. |
| CD | Michael Wolpe, Stabat Mater |
| About this CD | The CD has no number, though it might be there
in Hebrew. It was recorded at the Reformators Church in Riga, Latvia, January 1996. I received the CD as a present from Michael Wolpe himself. |
| Choir | Latvian Radio Choir |
| Conductor | Kaspars Putnins |
| Other works | Michael Wolpe: Recorder Concerto Michael Wolpe, Contemplation for Orchestra |
| Added | 1996 (WOL 01) |
E-mail:
stabatmater@dds.nl