Howells: Stabat Mater, Te Deum & Sine Nomine

Featuring

David Hill
Benjamin Hulett
Alison Hill
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
The Bach Choir
Herbert Howells

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Compositional Technique

In the Stabat Mater, Howells used a highly chromatic harmonic idiom and complex choral writing, representing the furthest he ever ventured in these aspects.

Composer Biography

Herbert Howells, the composer, studied at the Royal College of Music under Charles Stanford and Charles Wood from 1912 to 1916.

Composition History

The Stabat Mater, a large-scale choral and orchestral work, was a direct musical response to the death of Howells's nine-year-old son, Michael, in 1935.

Critical Reception

At its 1922 premiere, Howells's Sine nomine, an impressionistic work with unusual scoring, failed to make an impression on the audience or critics and sank without trace for 70 years.

Composition History

Sine nomine, an orchestral work with wordless vocal parts, was commissioned at the instigation of Edward Elgar for the 1922 Gloucester Three Choirs Festival.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Howells's Stabat Mater was visually inspired by Michelangelo's Pietà in St Peter's Basilica, Rome, which reminded him of clinging to his own son.

Recording & Production

David Hill, the conductor of this recording, discovered Howells's revised tempo markings for the Stabat Mater in a score given to him by a friend of the original premiere conductor.