Stabat Mater for solo alto and orchestra, RV 621, is a composition by the Italian baroque composer Antonio Vivaldi on one of the Sorrows of Mary. It was premiered in Brescia in 1712.
Instrumentation
The work is scored for violins I & II, violas, solo alto or countertenor and basso continuo.
Movements
Vivaldi's Stabat Mater only uses the first ten stanzas of the hymn. The music is keyed in F minor, and is generally slow and melancholy, with allegro only being used once in the Amen, and all the other movements not going faster than andante. Movements 4, 5, and 6 are identical to the first three musically. The composition is structured into nine movements as follows: Stabat mater dolorosa Cujus animam gementem O quam tristis et afflicta Quis est homo Quis non posset contristari Pro peccatis suae gentis Eia mater, fons amoris Fac ut ardeat cor meum Amen
In popular culture
A piano transcription of this work was featured prominently in the 1999 film The Talented Mr. Ripley.