Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)
Stabat Mater for soloists, choir and orchestra op. 58 (1877)
Michaela Kaune, soprano
Martina Dike, mezzo-soprano
Peter Sonn, tenor
Tobias Schabel, bass
The Zurich Mixed Choir
Joachim Krause, Head of Department
Together with the Zurich Mixed Choir under the direction of Joachim Krause, the Basel Sinfonietta once again embarks on a journey into the musical world of the 19th century. The program at the Tonhalle Zurich features Antonín Dvořák's "Stabat Mater," a work whose premiere, while a distant memory compared to the Basel Sinfonietta's contemporary repertoire—it took place 142 years ago on December 23, 1880, in Prague—continues to express, with great intensity, the dramatic development of the journey from sorrow through redemption to hope.
Antonín Dvořák's "Stabat Mater" for soloists, choir, and orchestra is probably the best-known of the composer's sacred works. His own painful experiences—the death of his first daughter in 1875 and the loss of two more children in quick succession in 1877—likely contributed to Dvořák's preoccupation with the suffering of the Virgin Mary, weeping beneath the cross of her son. The music responds with great sensitivity to the varying emotional nuances of the liturgical text. Nine movements, ranging from slow to moderate tempo, serve as a kind of Passion meditation before the ecstasy of a Resurrection vision takes over at the end of the tenth movement.
Program subject to change
