Introducing the Stabat Mater

It was one of those truly unforgettable experiences.  The church of San Fortunato in Todi – always beautiful but usually empty and rather austere – was buzzing with energy and full of people.  Many of them had come long distances to be there.  Even the light was different: normally cool and pale, on this night it was warm and vibrant.  I recall thinking back to the day several years previously, when my wife and I first wandered into Todi, and reflecting that I never imagined it might lead to an evening like this.  It was May 2019 and we were about to witness a special performance of the Stabat Mater, originally a medieval hymn believed to have been written by Jacopone.  The performance was the culmination of the Iubel Festival, a series of cultural events being held in Todi in honour of Jacopone.

What is the Stabat Mater?

One of medieval Europe’s most popular religious hymns, the Stabat Mater is a meditation on how Mary felt as she stood beside the cross watching her Son die.  More than this, it’s intended as an entering into the sufferings of Jesus and Mary, in the hope that this will lead us to greater love for Jesus.  It was widely used over seven centuries in Catholic liturgies, as well as in informal popular devotions and for private prayer.  Since the reforms of Vatican II in the 1960s the Stabat Mater, as a Latin hymn, is less frequently used in formal liturgical settings.  But it remains popular in private devotions and, above all, as a musical piece: see this recent discussion of new musical settings and of how the Stabat Mater still resonates today.

You can read the original Latin text with English translation here and with Italian translation here. You can listen to the Stabat Mater being sung by the Benedictine Monks of the Abbey of St. Maurice here .

One of the most remarkable things about the Stabat Mater is how often it has been set to music.  Apart altogether from the many versions in Gregorian chant, found in medieval church manuscripts, there are versions by an extraordinary number of composers from the 15th century to the present day, including major names such as Bach, Haydn, Schubert, Rossini, Liszt, Dvorák, Scarlatti, Pergolesi and Ennio Morricone.  Through the centuries, composers have been inspired by the drama of the Stabat Mater, by its powerful combination of emotive imagery and strong rhythmic structure.  You can find out much more about this musical history at the wonderful Ultimate Stabat Mater Website.  The version being performed that night in Todi was by Rossini, one of the great operatic composers – and his Stabat Mater certainly has moments of full-blooded operatic intensity, as well as delicate interludes of pathos and reflection.

San Fortunato was chosen as the venue for this performance because it holds the tomb of Jacopone, traditionally regarded as the author of the Stabat Mater.  The great old church resounded with the sheer power of a full (and very fine) orchestra and the stunning vocals of a first-rate choir and professional soloists.  The atmosphere was alive with an intense electricity.  The evening was even more special because the performance was directed by Ezio Bosso, a great Italian maestro of music but also someone who was living with an incurable illness (and who would pass away only a year later).  Who better than a man who knew something about suffering to direct a meditation on human suffering, written by a poet who also knew something about suffering?  As they performed that night, the orchestra were located right over the crypt containing Jacopone’s tomb.  Many people there were struck by the thought that Jacopone himself was present in spirit and we wondered how he might have felt about the performance.  It was a long-overdue tribute, after centuries of neglect, to a great poet and man of faith.

Watch Ezio Bosso conducting the European Philharmonic Orchestra in San Fortunato.

Stabat Mater at the Iubel Festival 2019

Gioacchino Rossini's Stabat Mater was performed for the first Iubel Festival. Maestro Ezio Bosso conducted the European Philharmonic Orchestra (with members from all over Europe), the Rossini Philharmonic Choir of Pesaro and the young soloists of the Luciano Pavarotti Foundation (Floriana Cicio, Isabel Lombana Mariño, Rino Matafù and Andrea Pellegrini). About a thousand people filled the Church of San Fortunato, where Jacopone is buried - an evocative and symbolic choice for the event.

• Who wrote the Stabat Mater?

  There is no conclusive evidence for who wrote the Stabat Mater. Jacopone has, for many centuries, been widely regarded as the author and he certainly wrote a remarkably similar laude, Donna de Paradiso. However, not everybody accepts Jacopone as the author: read more about this in our article Three Popes, Three Saints and One Layman.