The Seacoast Chamber Players will give their annual concert on Good Friday, April 14, at 7:30 p.m. in St. Hilda's Anglican church in Sechelt.
They will perform works by two composers: Mozart, born 250 years ago in 1756, and Pergolesi, born 1710. Tragically, both died young, Mozart aged 35, and Pergolesi at 26. The first part of the program consists of Mozart's Divertimento in D major K136, his Laudate Dominum from the Solemn Vespers, Soave sia il vento, a hauntingly beautiful vocal trio from the opera Cosi Fan Tutte, his well-known Ave Verum and a late work, the Trio in G major K564, for violin, cello and piano. The second half of the program, Pergolesi's groundbreaking work Stabat Mater, was written specifically for Easter. Composed intermittently over the course of several years, he finished it just days before he died of tuberculosis in March 1736. Thus he would never witness its immense popularity during the rest of the 18th century when it was regarded as the stylistic ideal for sacred music in Europe. His musical descriptions of the grieving mother Mary as she witnesses the suffering and subsequent death of her son are immediate and intensely moving. They enable us to connect in a human way with religious experience in the widest sense of the word. Pergolesi would have been flattered to discover how many composers, including J.S. Bach, would choose to imitate this very personal and emotional style in their own church compositions rather than the somewhat outdated music of his predecessors. Indeed, his Stabat Mater is very similar to his last opera, La Serva Padrona, and it is this similarity that helps to make the dramatic content of this sacred work so passionate and involving. It also begs the question, what else would this brilliant man have composed if he had lived even as long as Mozart? Kathleen Hovey, violin, leads the group, with Germaine Foo Fat, violin; Bernard Kane, viola; Jennifer Moersch, cello; and Patricia Greenfield, piano. They will be joined for this concert by Jo Hammond, soprano; Shelley Dillon, mezzo; and Jon Eriksson, baritone.
Tickets are $12 for adults and $8 for students, available at Coast Books in Gibsons and Talewind Books in Sechelt.
