Pergolesi Stabat Mater

About this episode

This episode explores the life and music of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, focusing on his Stabat Mater and the unique circumstances surrounding his fame and early death.

Many aspects of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's life seem relatively normal when it comes to composers of the Baroque era. He was prolific, died young, and his music became very famous only after his death. However, all three of these facts are complicated by the unique circumstances of Pergolesi's life. He was somewhat prolific, but dozens of pieces that were once attributed to him are no longer considered authentic, including much of the music that Igor Stravinsky made famous in his ballet Pulcinella . Pergolesi did not just die young; he died remarkably young, at the age of twenty-six, from tuberculosis. And the idea that he became famous only after his death actually made him unusual among composers of his time, when popularity during one's lifetime was the primary mark of success. Most composers quickly fell into obscurity after they died. In Pergolesi's case, the opposite occurred. There was a massive surge of interest in his music immediately after his death, which in some ways contributed to the museum-like atmosphere that classical music has today. Pergolesi was ahead of his time in many ways, and that brings us to the piece we are going to talk about today, his Stabat…

People in this episode

Host: Joshua Weilerstein

Topics covered

• Giovanni Battista Pergolesi
• Baroque era
• Stabat Mater
• classical music
• music history

Keywords

• Pergolesi
• Stabat Mater
• classical music
• Baroque
• Igor Stravinsky

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Stabat Mater, Pulcinella

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