Archives for April 2020

Federico Bruno contacted me and informed me about the special history of his Stabat Mater composition. Federico was born in Rome and when he was a child he sang as a soloist in the Choir of the Sistine Chapel. After his childhood he has been writing and recording songs that combine a blend of pop, rock, industrial and electro music. From 1997 to 2003 Federico lived  in the USA where he produced several albums, like Pure Child (2001) and Here (2008).
In 2013 he made a radical choice for a life devoted to simplicity and poverty, to the work of the land in Armenzano of Assisi (Umbria). That’s where the story of his Stabat begins:

It was the fall of 2014, on Mount Subasio, in Armenzano of Assisi (Umbria) where I lived, (my radical choice of life devoted to simplicity and poverty; to the work of the land) when a melody began to “torment me”. I thought it was reminiscent of my studies as a child when I sang as a soloist in the Choir of the Sistine Chapel in the eighties, so much so that it seemed foreign to my compositional style. After a long time chasing success in the field of rock (with modest results) since two years I was convinced never to return to writing or playing music… READ MORE

I listened to his Stabat several times, I love its simplicity and intensity. Federico has used the complete Stabat Mater text (the ‘Vatican’-version). His composition has fourteen parts, just like the fourteen stations of the cross. The video shows artwork (of plaster and gold in wood) made by Federico himself. It is the story of the Via Crucis in fourteen parts. It is like a booklet, where Jacopone da Todi’s text is accompanied with the Gospel passages and the illustrations of the relative stations.
You can watch/listen the complete Stabat as well as read the story of the making of here.
Federico was kind enough to give me permission to post a part of the video on my site and on my YouTube channel. Here you can listen to part III O quam tristis et afflicta. Thanks very much Federico.