The choristers of St Albans Abbey Girls Choir, under the direction of Simon Johnson, perform two selections from Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's 'Stabat Mater', which dates from 1736. The text of the Stabat Mater, which has been set to music by composers including Josquin, Palestrina, and Haydn, regards the lamentations of the Virgin Mary during the crucifixion of her son.
The St Albans Abbey Girls Choir, a primarily treble-voice ensemble composed of seven- to fourteen-year-old choristers, draws girls from area schools to help uphold the tradition of musical worship at the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban. Their recording of Pergolesi's 'Stabat Mater,' for which they joined Dame Emma Kirkby, soprano, Catherine Denley, contralto, and the London Baroque, is a celebration of the choir's tenth anniversary as a fixture of musical life at St Albans.
The first piece ('Stabat mater dolorosa...') begins at 0:00 ; the second piece ('Fac ut ardeat cor meum...') begins at 3:50 .
[ Latin Text: ]
Stabat Mater dolorosa iuxta crucem
lacrimosa dum pendebat Filius
...
Fac ut ardeat cor meum in amando
Christum Deum ut sibi complaceam.
[ English Translation: ]
The grieving mother stood weeping beside the cross
Where her Son was hanging.
...
Make my heart burn with love for
Christ, my Lord, that I may be pleasing to Him.
[ Recording available on the disk 'Stabat Mater' (Lammas, 2007). ]
