NOSPR / Michele Spotti / Rossini – Stabat Mater - NOSPR

While working on Guillaume Tell, the 37-year-old Rossini was planning to put his career on hold; it remains unclear whether he was forced into that decision by personal considerations or political pressure. During the early years of his retirement (unusually long for a composer), Rossini was asked by the archdeacon of Madrid to set to music the mediaeval sequence Stabat Mater. Initially reluctant, he ultimately accepted the proposition, although secretly entrusting the composition of much of the work to a friend. After the archdeacon’s death, a stormy battle was fought in the courts between the composer and the publisher who had purchased the manuscript from the cleric’s heirs – unlawfully, according to Rossini. He emerged victorious, secured full rights to the work, rewrote the delegated parts and completed the composition, which some criticised for being overly sensuous, naive and operatic in character, while others appreciated its sincere expression and artless spirituality.

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Duration of the concert: approx. 70 minutes