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Details
Canterbury Cathedral
The Precincts
Canterbury
Kent
CT1 2EH
England
Programme
Antonin Dvorak – Stabat Mater, Op.58
Performers
Richard Cooke – Conductor
Verity Wingate – soprano
Rebecca Afonwy Jones – mezzo-soprano
Peter Davoren – tenor
William Gaunt – Bass
Canterbury Choral Society
Canterbury Choral Society Youth Choir
London Mozart Players
Programme Note
Perhaps in this intensely passionate score, the greatest Czech composer pours out his most profound and heartfelt writing, standing alongside his greatest works such as the Cello concerto and the New World Symphony, and surpassing all his other choral works. This concert is an opportunity to experience a work of great profundity. Its composition followed the death of his fourth, and last-remaining child – he was to have more who survived him. It is a work of deep beauty and pathos from its extended first movement, as Mary laments the death of her son Jesus at the foot of the cross. Dvořák’s composition stands together with other great settings of the text from Palestrina in the 16th century, Rossini and Verdi in the 19th century, through to Penderecki and Szymanowski in the 20th century. Dvořák’s creation was on a more expansive scale than all of these others. Following the success of its first London performance in December 1883, Dvořák himself was invited to conduct it in the Royal Albert Hall three months later in March 1884. It marked his first major success outside his home country and Canterbury Choral Society and Youth Choir look forward to presenting it for the first time after 17 years.
