Volker Hartung, the conductor, studied viola at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City and conducting with Sergiu Celibidache in Munich.
Performer Biography
Olga Shiryaeva, the soprano on this recording, won 3rd prize at the Fifth International Rachmaninov Competition in 2012 and 2nd prize at The International Chopin Competition in 2015.
Cultural Impact
Johann Sebastian Bach, a German composer, carefully studied Pergolesi's Stabat Mater in 1741 and transformed it into his own Psalm 51.
Cultural Impact
Pergolesi's Stabat Mater became one of the archetypes of religious music and was frequently performed with immense success in Paris from 1753 to 1790.
Composer Biography
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, born in 1710, experienced only failures or partial successes during his brief life, dying at age 26.
Cultural Impact
Joseph Haydn, an Austrian composer, regarded Pergolesi as a supreme talent and master, and studied a copy of his Stabat Mater before composing his own in 1767.
Critical Reception
Pergolesi's Stabat Mater was criticized as early as 1740 for being too influenced by opera, and thus not considered authentic religious music by some.
