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GILES SWAYNE : Stabat Mater, Op. 95
(for unaccompanied SSAATTBB choir & SATB soli)
Thursday 3 June, 2004 – Priory Park Chapel, Bath, England
Bath Camerata, cond. Nigel Perrin
Gonzaga Music Ltd., 2004 (GZ019)
“The Latin poem 'Stabat mater dolorosa', which comes from thirteenth century Italy, is a powerful meditation upon the death of Christ and the grief of his mother, and has been in liturgical use since medieval times. According to Christian belief, Jesus’ mother lost her son to a violent death which he suffered willingly for his convictions. The poem was well-known to me as a boy; rereading it in 2003 with a view to making a setting, I was struck by the fact that the events to which it relates are repeated today all too often, a mere stone’s throw from the place where Jesus is said to have been crucified. Men, women and children still die violent deaths in Palestine and Israel, and their mothers, sisters, wives and daughters still mourn and bury them – it is always the women who are left behind. That is the burden of this piece. It is not sacred music: it celebrates our common humanity.
My setting incorporates into the 'Stabat mater' the Aramaic & Hebrew text of 'Kaddish' and the blessing 'Barùkh uvarùkh' from the 'Talmud Babli', and the Arabic of the 'Salàat al-Jinàaza' – the Muslim burial service – inserting these between the stanzas of the Latin poem to create a shared ritual of grief.” – Giles Swayne
GILES SWAYNE : Stabat Mater, Op. 95
(for unaccompanied SSAATTBB choir & SATB soli)
Thursday 3 June, 2004 – Priory Park Chapel, Bath, England
Bath Camerata, cond. Nigel Perrin
Gonzaga Music Ltd., 2004 (GZ019)
“The Latin poem 'Stabat mater dolorosa', which comes from thirteenth century Italy, is a powerful meditation upon the death of Christ and the grief of his mother, and has been in liturgical use since medieval times. According to Christian belief, Jesus’ mother lost her son to a violent death which he suffered willingly for his convictions. The poem was well-known to me as a boy; rereading it in 2003 with a view to making a setting, I was struck by the fact that the events to which it relates are repeated today all too often, a mere stone’s throw from the place where Jesus is said to have been crucified. Men, women and children still die violent deaths in Palestine and Israel, and their mothers, sisters, wives and daughters still mourn and bury them – it is always the women who are left behind. That is the burden of this piece. It is not sacred music: it celebrates our common humanity.
My setting incorporates into the 'Stabat mater' the Aramaic & Hebrew text of 'Kaddish' and the blessing 'Barùkh uvarùkh' from the 'Talmud Babli', and the Arabic of the 'Salàat al-Jinàaza' – the Muslim burial service – inserting these between the stanzas of the Latin poem to create a shared ritual of grief.” – Giles Swayne