At the cross her station keeping, stood the mournful mother weeping, close to Jesus to the last,” is how the text of the thirteenth-century sequence Stabat Mater begins in an English translation. It is a poignantly moving image of the suffering of the Virgin Mary, which has been an inspiration for artists. Josquin des Prez, Orlando di Lasso, Antonio Vivaldi, Joseph Haydn, Gioacchino Rossini, Giuseppe Verdi, Karol Szymanowski, Francis Poulenc, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Arvo Pärt – these are just some of the authors of its settings. Maestro Paul McCreesh has decided to present Stabat Mater by the Czech artist Antonín Dvořák, considered one of the greatest works of oratorio music written in the nineteenth century.

Artists are often inspired by events from their own lives. This was also the case with Dvořák and his version of Stabat Mater. The artist began writing in February 1876, in reaction to the death of his daughter, Josefa, in August of the previous year. Fate was not kind to him later either – before the piece was completed in November 1877, two more of the composer's children passed away: Otakar and Růžena. Dvořák’s Stabat Mater is a monumental composition, both in terms of its duration and the performance forces. The composer planned for it to feature four soloists, a mixed choir, as well as an extensive orchestra and organ. Yet it is not music of despair. Dvořák does not emanate suffering here. You may even get the impression that confronting the subject Christ’s death and his mother’s mourning was a way for him to come to terms with his own losses. This is a contemplative work, surprisingly serene, full of tenderness. Its colours, refinement and diversity in the orchestration of individual sections are truly intriguing and hold the listener’s attention throughout.

The work’s premiere in Prague in 1880 was warmly received by critics, but even greater success came with the presentations of the composition conducted by the composer in 1884 at the Royal Albert Hall in London and in Birmingham. The English, who were in love with choral music, were delighted with the Czech artist’s achievements and eagerly commissioned more works from him, whose performances consolidated the international fame that Dvořák enjoyed. His Stabat Mater is an encouragement to empathise – in accordance with the text: “By the cross with thee to stay, there with thee to weep nad pray, this I ask of thee to give.