Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736) achieved very limited success in his brief lifetime. He died indigent at the age of 26 in a Capuchin monastery near Naples and was buried in a pauper's grave. Within a few years of his death, however, with revivals of his works in Rome, Naples, Dresden and Munich, his reputation soared and his fame spread through all Europe.
Pergolesi's importance and popularity today rest largely on his operas and sacred music — particularly on the Stabat Mater, his last and what many consider his greatest work. A setting for soprano, alto and strings of a medieval Latin poem about the sorrows of the Virgin Mary at Christ's crucifixion, the Stabat Mater is music of transcendent beauty and poignancy. Long a staple of the repertoire, this Italian Baroque masterpiece is an essential work for students and performers of choral music. They, and all lovers of fine music, will welcome this inexpensive, authoritative edition.