Performers

Mayfield Festival Choir

Conductor: Jeremy Summerly

Orchestra: Ripieno Players

Soloists: Sofia Kirwan-Baez (Soprano), Aneska Diament (Alto), Francis Melville (Tenor), Ed Birchinall (Bass)

Description

It’s hard to believe that Mozart rattled off the Great Mass in C Minor well before he was 30, and even more surprising that Schubert can have trotted out his impressively mature Stabat mater before he was 20. But in 1783 Mozart had a point to prove. The C-minor Mass was written to showcase the vocal prowess of Mozart’s new wife, Constanze. Mozart took Constanze to Salzburg as his Soprano soloist in order to parade her in front of his father and sister, as well as to goad the much-despised Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg. It worked.

Schubert had no such personal agenda: he was simply writing a lot of music in his late teens under the watchful eye of Anton Salieri. Salieri is often imagined as a twisted and jealous character, but actually, as well as admiring Mozart’s music, Salieri also inspired the young Schubert to unimaginable feats of creativity. Schubert’s Stabat mater reflects well on Salierei and, indeed, on Schubert’s brother, Ferdinand, to whom the Stabat mater was affectionately dedicated.

In this performance, Mayfield Festival Choir and the Ripieno Players under Jeremy Summerly are joined again by the stellar Soprano Sofia Kirwan-Baez and young vocal scholars from the Royal College of Music.