The colourbar, which you will find with almost all compositions, is a graphic representation of the composition. Principally, the bar is divided in 20 columns, representing the 20 stanzas. Bold vertical lines divide the musical parts, so that the number of stanzas in that part can be easily seen. Missing stanza numbers over columns mean that these stanzas has not been set to music (e.g. Josquin Desprez). The English Renaissance composers Browne, Cornysh and Davy used a text which, starting with the 9th stanza, deviates completely from the usual text. The colorbars with these composers have different dimensions (6 + 8 stanzas).
Some composers mix the Stabat Mater text with texts from other origins. In these cases I try to make the colorbar to represent as good as possible what they did (e.g. Kamillo Lendvay). Some composers, like Schubert in his second Stabat Mater do not use the Stabat Mater poem, but use other texts, so you will find a deviating colorbar there.
Example of a complete Colourbar (Stabat Mater by d’Astorga)
Example of a “mixed text” Colourbar (Stabat Mater by Lendvay)
Example of an “other text” Colorbar (Stabat Mater by Schubert)
The colors indicate the soloists and the choir. The vertical thick black lines indicate different musical sections of the composition. Missing stanza numbers indicate that the text of that stanza was not used by the composer. A gray background in the stanza row, combined with the use of Roman numerals, indicates that a text, different from the Stabat Mater poem, has been used.
- Yellow = soprano, Red = alto, Green = tenor, Blue = bass, Black = choir
