Pergolesi spent his short life in the cramped and noisy city of Naples. 18th century travellers wrote of its crowded streets and clamorous traffic, a state of affairs that would have been particularly apparent during the processions held to celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. The week before Good Friday, Neapolitans would parade through the streets in a quasi-theatrical show of piety. The religious orders who oversaw these extravagant events organised performances of the Stabat Mater, a meditation on Mary’s suffering during the crucifixion, performed to a score or as a polyphony set to a familiar tune and transmitted orally.

 

 

A few months before his death at the age of twenty-six, Pergolesi was commissioned to write a new Stabat Mater to replace a previous version by Alessandro Scarlatti. Wracked by illness, he expressed the suffering of the Virgin by combining the language of the Passion found in operatic works with echoes of popular song that accompanied his own compositions. Le Poème Harmonique recreates this fascinating mix by combining the genius of Pergolesi with the oral traditions he would have heard as he walked the streets. This original musical experience has been rewarded by fifteen years of successful recordings and concerts.