Gioachino Rossini – Stabat Mater

The Italian composer Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) has made himself immortal most of all with an extensive output of operas. Yet, now and then, he turned to sacred music as well. Authorized at a time when he has largely retreated from composing, and delayed by a disease, from the first stroke of ink it took almost ten years until his Stabat Mater was performed for the first time in 1842. It was seen as a master’s long welcomed sign of life and remains exemplary for his musical genius. The medieval text about the suffering of Mother Mary is compiled by various stylistic elements in a dramatic cycle which unites unforced accessibility with spiritual depth.