Gioacchino Rossini: Stabat Mater

Gioacchino Rossini's Stabat Mater belongs to the last creative period of the great musician from Pesaro and was written in 1832 after a compositional break lasting more than ten years. Gioacchino Rossini hesitated to compose the Stabat Mater; in his youth he had been deeply impressed by Pergolesi's Stabat Mater and was convinced that no one could have composed a better one. Rossini's Stabat Mater premiered in Paris in 1842. Jacopone da Todi's text is treated like a melodrama and given a musical setting of great power and formal complexity. The work is characterized by its dramatic and operatic structure, with varied forms such as arias, duets, quartets, and choruses.