Passion concert Mater Dolorosa

Human suffering – as a universal theme – is given extra emphasis by the church during the passion season by reflecting on the suffering and death of Christ. We hear this in all compositions that relate to the Passion story. Another side of the story – that of the mother who loses her child – is told in the Stabat Mater.

This concert is about the mother, about passion and comfort. We reflect on the mother’s grief in the Stabat Mater by the Norwegian composer Knut Nystedt. This moving composition for choir and cello forms the core of the program. Also for choir and cello is the beautiful O crux splendidior by Sebastiaan van Steenberge.

Certainly in the Roman Catholic Church, Mary – who is closer to the believers – is invoked as a comforter and mediator. We perform Daan Manneke’s serene Ave Maria and we sing Francis Poulenc’s Salve Regina.

Even now, there are countless mothers who have to learn to live with the loss of their child. Think of all the soldier mothers in Ukraine and Russia. The Swedish composer Lars Jansson wrote his swinging composition To the Mothers of Brazil: Salve Regina based on the text of the Salve Regina.

The concert ends with Eliza Gilkyson’s Requiem, a plea to Mary for help. Earlier in the program parts of Eleanor Daley’s Requiem are performed.

There is a good chance that both singers and listeners will go home comforted with the lyrics and music of the beautiful part In Remembrance: Do not stand at my grave and weep: I am not there, I do not sleep…