BOCCHERINI: Stabat mater

Orchestra da Camera Benedetto Marcello, Scogna, Flavio Emilio, Vignudelli, Barbara

TC 740208

Boccherini was always seen as a composer who primarily devoted himself to instrumental music, but also alternated with the Central European instrumental style, was aware of the cultural environment of the time, but pursued more of an activity at a neighboring court (the Spanish court).
Like all Italian musicians of his time, immersed in operatic culture, Boccherini stood completely outside the privileged Germanic world that had a monopoly on the development of instrumental music between the 18th and 19th centuries.
A personality miles apart from that of the archetypal composer from the Germanic world, living and working autonomously in Vienna between two centuries and conforming to the model of the pre-romantic musician celebrated in all music history books.

Nevertheless, it is perplexing how a composer who worked in the late 18th century still remains obscure and whose very important musical productions still need to be identified and recognized. Partly because of this misunderstanding, certain pieces by the "Lucchese" musician cannot be easily categorized in the widespread rediscovery of early music that is in vogue today.
This is the case with this Stabat for soprano and strings, number 532 of the Catalogue Gerard, perhaps Boccherini's most important vocal opera. The musician composed it in Arenas in 1781 to a text attributed to Jacopone da Todi in order to personally contribute to the deeply rooted custom, also in Spain, of performing it during Holy Week.

From a structural point of view, the Stabat could be attributed to the Neapolitan tradition of Scarlatti and Pergolesi, although in terms of the compositions of the two musicians, only the soprano is presen

Works:

•Boccherini: Stabat Mater (1st version, 1781, for soprano & string orchestra), G532

CD x 1

Tactus

15.11.13

8007194103953