Two countertenors for Pergolesi’s iconic Stabat Mater resurrecting the history of the creation in France of this work, brought by two castrati of the Royal Chapel of Louis XV!

A few months before his death at the age of twenty-six, Pergolesi was commissioned to create a new Stabat Mater to replace a previous version by Alessandro Scarlatti. Afflicted by illness, he expressed the suffering of the Virgin by using the language of passions specific to opera. Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, first performed in 1736, is one of the emblematic works of the baroque period and had a profound impact on the musical world of the 18th century, particularly in France.

The Italian castrati of the Royal Chapel of Versailles (Louis XIV invited 8 from Italy as early as 1679 for his sacred music), brought the score from Italy and highly recommended the composition, both at the court of Louis XV and at the Concert Spirituel. When Paris discovered Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, the public fell for the revolutionary composition of the young Neapolitan genius, who sadly died too young… This success lasted during the entire century.

The text of the Stabat Mater inspired Vivaldi with a virtuoso work , composed in 1712 for performance in Brescia, and in mirror image of these Marian complaints, the motet In furore unleashes opposing passions in a work that is as dazzling as it is contrasting: here is the fury of divine anger!

To convey the full splendor of the sumptuous duet of angelic voices lamenting Mary’s sorrow at the foot of the Cross, the two singers must know how to blend their timbres, like the two Neapolitan castrati for whom this music was composed. The brilliant sopranist Samuel Mariño, born in Caracas, brings all the light of South America to a voice that is totally youthful, almost timeless, and which undoubtedly reflects the angelic nature of some of the castrati of the Vatican, the Royal Chapel of Naples… or the one in Versailles! For this concert in Versailles, he sings in duet with Filippo Mineccia, who has become in a few years a seductive singer on the baroque scene, and particularly in Versailles where he has shone at the Opera as well as in the Chapel. Here are two exceptional performers for a sensitive and virtuoso programme…

Available in the discographic collection of Château de Versailles Spectacles’ label.

PROGRAMME

Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741)
In Furore
Stabat Mater

Jean-Baptiste Pergolèse (1710-1736)
Stabat Mater