Stabat Mater

Embellished with a few rarely performed gems, this concert is an invitation to discover the Neapolitan School, of which Scarlatti was one of the founders and of which Pergolesi, Leo and Durante are among the major representatives. When he composed his Stabat Mater (1736), Pergolesi was twenty-six years old and living his last weeks. Condemned by tuberculosis, he withdrew from the world to a monastery near Naples. Despite his young age, he signed several operas, including La Serva padrona, which would ignite the Querelle des Bouffons (The Buffoons' Quarrel) in Paris. The composer drew on this expertise, using highly dramatic contrasts to depict the suffering of the Virgin at the foot of the cross.

Initially a liturgical prayer, it was at the beginning of the 18th century that the Salve Regina became a musical genre for voice and orchestra. The five Salve Regina are the work of a Scarlatti in his prime, whose lyricism was to influence the entire development of Italian opera. Another prayer to the Virgin was masterfully set to music by Leo. Known in his time for having composed some sixty operas, this composer was one of the masters of modern harmonic counterpoint. Durante, who succeeded him at the Conservatorio Sant'Onofrio, was his rival - and their respective disciples fiercely opposed each other. This evening reconciles them. A virtuoso student of Corelli, Locatelli settled in Amsterdam, becoming one of the architects of the expansion of Italian music throughout Europe.

At the head of the Concert d'Astrée, a first-time guest at Lorraine National Opera, conductor Emmanuelle Haïm is dedicated to bringing this music to life in our times.