In Stabat Mater, the choreographer establishes a sensitive, yet somewhat ironic dialogue between the modern man and the masterpiece of the Italian Baroque master Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736). Composed in the last weeks of the composer’s life, this highly influential, extraordinarily expressive composition for soprano, viola, strings and the famous bass is based on the thirteenth-century sequence ‘Stabat mater dolorosa’ (Latin for ‘the mother of sorrows was standing’). One version attributes its text to the Franciscan monk Jacopone da Todi. According to legend, he was a wealthy layman who was prompted to renounce his wealth and take monastic vows by the death of his wife, to which he had indirectly contributed himself. Thus, the hymn of the Blessed Virgin standing by the cross mourning her crucified son was composed as a penance.
