Stabat Mater (2022) for 2 voices, strings & harpsichord

My intention while composing Stabat Mater was to make a sort of metawork about the Stabat Mater - what it has, and has not, been over its 600-year musical history. I also associate to the Western beautification of suffering more broadly (an allusion to Barber’s Adagio, for example, is due to its use in Platoon), and even the virgin Mary as a fetishized object (Mahler’s Adagietto, a love song, is referenced for that reason). In my reading, what the Stabat Mater has largely not been is a humanistic representation of the agony of a mother watching her child brutally killed; neither has it really represented her natural attempts to comfort him despite her own suffering. Below are some excerpts, as well as reflections by others on the piece.

Listen to various excerpts (in order):
Tyler Futrell · Stabat Mater

Watch a video of the opening (after intro):


Essay by Rasmus Weirup in Seismograf (in Danish)
Reflections on the piece by Bodil Maroni Jensen in Ballade (in Norwegian)
Interview on “På Konsert” (NRK) - from 18:05 (includes additional excerpts)
Score at NB Noter

Commissioned by Terjungensemble, with kind support from Arts Council Norway (Kulturrådet).

Teaser for Oslo International Church Music Festival’s reprise performance: