Stabat Mater

Antonín Dvořák's Stabat Mater, Op. 58 (B. 71), is an extended setting for vocal soloists, choir and orchestra of the 20 stanzas of the Stabat Mater sequence. Dvořák sketched the composition in 1876 and completed it in 1877. It has been characterized as a sacred cantata and as an oratorio, and consists of ten movements of which only the first and the last are thematically connected. Its total performance time is around 85 minutes.

The work was first performed in Prague in 1880. N. Simrock published Dvořák's Op. 58 in 1881. In 1882, Leoš Janáček conducted a performance of the work in Brno. The work was performed in London in 1883, and again, in the Royal Albert Hall, in 1884, and thus played a crucial role in Dvořák's international breakthrough as a composer. In the 21st century the Stabat Mater continues to be Dvořák's best known, and most often performed, sacred work.

How Dvořák started to compose his Stabat Mater in February 1876 as a reaction to the death of his two days old daughter Josefa in August 1875 has often been told, but has been doubted in 21st-century scholarship. The sketch was written between 19 February and 7 May 1876, and was dedicated to František Hušpauer "as a souvenir to the friend of his young days." On 30 July Dvořák sent his manuscript to Vienna, accompanying an application for a scholarship by the Ministry of Culture and Education. He returned to the final stylisation of the composition in 1877, when his two surviving children died within a short time of each other. The definitive version of the score was written from October to 13 November 1877 in Prague.

The vocal solos of Dvořák's Stabat Mater are written for soprano, tenor (Tenore), alto and bass (Basso). Together, these voices form the vocal quartet (Quartetto). The choir (Coro) consists of SATB singers. The accompanying orchestra has following instruments: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets in A, 2 bassoons, 4 horns (two in F, two in D), 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, organ and strings.

The approximate duration of the work is 85 minutes.

The first movement is an extended sonata form in symphonic style. It opens with a long orchestral introduction, then repeated with the chorus. A contrasting second theme is introduced by the soloists. A development section leads to the return of the opening material.

The organ has an independent part accompanying the female semichorus in the fourth movement, and is not used otherwise.

Similarly, the cor anglais has a solo line in the opening of the second movement and is otherwise absent. Though not specified in the score, it can easily be played by one of the two oboists, as they are not playing during this section.

The final movement recalls the opening themes of the work, but then turns into the major key for a triumphant Amen fugue of considerable complexity.

The first performance of Dvořák's Stabat Mater took place on 23 December 1880 at the concert of the Association of Musical Artists in Prague. The performers included the operatic ensemble of the Czech Provisional Theatre, under the conductor Adolf Čech, with the soloists Eleanora Ehrenbergů, Betty Fibich, Antonín Vávra and Karel Čech. Leoš Janáček conducted the work a year and half later, on 2 April 1882, in Brno. A performance in Budapest soon ensued. The work was performed in London in 1883, and again, in the Royal Albert Hall, in 1884, and thus played a crucial role in Dvořák's international breakthrough as a composer. In the 21st century the Stabat Mater continues to be Dvořák's best known, and most often performed, sacred work.

In 1879 Dvořák suggested his Stabat Mater for publication to Fritz Simrock, but it wasn't until after the successful 1880 Prague première of the work that he got the publisher interested. Simrock suggested to change the original opus number (Op. 28) to a more recent number: the work was published as Dvořák's Op. 58 by the N. Simrock firm in 1881. The publication included a vocal score with a piano reduction by Josef Zubatý [scores]. Full score and vocal score were published by Novello & Co, in the Novello's Original Octavo Edition series, in 1883.

In the second half of the 1950s the Stabat Mater was published as Vol. II/1 of Souborné vydání děl Antonína Dvořáka [scores] (SAD, Complete Edition of Antonín Dvořák's Works):

In Jarmil Burghauser's thematic catalogue of Dvořák's compositions the Stabat Matar was given the number B. 71. In 2004 there were two new vocal score editions of Dvořák's Stabat Mater:

Carus published Joachim Linckelmann's arrangement of Dvořák's Stabat Mater for chamber orchestra in 2016. The vocal score published with this edition was Petra Morath-Pusinelli's revision of Josef Zubatý's piano reduction.

The 1876 version of seven movements for vocal quartet, choir and piano was recorded in 2009 by soloists, the Accentus ensemble, conducted by Laurence Equilbey, with pianist Brigitte Engerer.