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Tõnu Kõrvits is a rising star of Estonian contemporary music, more and more frequently performed in Estonia and around the world. His music carries the listener along with calm but suggestive melodies and a rich and refined spectrum of harmony and timbre colours. Stabat Mater In the Stabat Mater, the believer rests together with Mary before the crucified Jesus. The poem is thought to originate from Franciscan sources in the 13th century. The monk Jacopone da Todi (ca. 1228-1306), Pope Innocentius III (ca. 1160-1216), and the saint Bonaventura (died 1274) are named as the most probable poet. The poem is made up of 20 stanzas of three lines, respectively comprising eight, eight and seven syllables.
The Stabat Mater by Kõrvits uses the first 10 stanzas, and then the final two. The tonal language of the work incorporates colours from the folk traditions of Kõrvits’ homeland and broadly employs the world of cluster chords and softly unresolved dissonances. With flexible time-values the composer destabilizes the metrical rigidity of the verse-structures. There is also some vibrant word painting in verse 8 for example, with chromatic unisons to suggest the emptiness of Mary's desolation and powerful chords adding to the question: how can human hearts be unaffected by this mother's pain?
The work is set as an entity, lasting about 12 minutes. The voicing in 4 to 6 parts also makes it very accessible for a variety of choral ensembles.
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