Semantics and confession in the “stabat mater”

Abstract

„Stabat mater Dolorosa” is the complete title of this type of vocal symphonic work, a sequence or a hymn in the Roman Catholic liturgy referring to the wailing of the grieving Mother of God at the foot of the Cross on which her Son and Saviour, our Lord, and God Jesus Christ, had been crucified. All the great composers have dealt with this very deep and delicate subject matter, offering humanity their own version of a moment that shows the power to endure the greatest suffering with faith, love, and an interiorized assumption of it. Only the Mother of God has lived such pain and only she in the purity that offered her so much inner power, could offer such a valid universal example of living pain.