Stabat Mater Dolorosa: A Journey Through Seven Centuries of Music

Our friend Hannie van Osnabrugge has, for almost 30 years, been running the wonderful Ultimate Stabat Mater Website.  As the name implies, this is the definitive source of information on the Stabat Mater and particularly on the huge number of musical versions and recordings, through many centuries.  

Now Hannie has produced a book, Stabat Mater Dolorosa – A Journey Through Seven Centuries of Music.  Again, the name says it all – the book takes us through the music, art, and sentiments of seven centuries to explain how Jacopone’s poem became “a universal expression of human emotion”.  It also tells the story of Hannie’s own 30-year journey of discovery and dedication to the website she has created.

Fittingly, Hannie begins her story in Todi, where she spent a week in 2021 at the invitation of Claudio Peri, visiting places associated with Jacopone and discussing our mutual interest in his great poem.

Originally published in Dutch in 2022, Hannie’s captivating book is now available in English, thanks to the dedicated efforts of volunteers from the Ultimate Stabat Mater Website community. We highly recommend it!

It can be purchased here.

Hannie and Claudio (at far right) with friends at the ex-monastery of San Lorenzo in Collazzone, where Jacopone died in 1306