Antonin Dvorak | Stabat Mater by Dvořák, Frá (2023/2023), Hljómsveitarstjóri Jean-Luc Tourret, Église de La Madeleine, Paris, France

It was following the death of his daughter in the cradle that Dvořák composed in 1875 a draft of this Stabat Mater for soloists, choir and piano. A new ordeal struck him in 1877 with the loss a few months apart of his two other children. It was after this new drama that he resumed the composition of the work by adding three movements and orchestrating it. This Stabat Mater is therefore the testimony of the composer's own suffering in the face of death, where he identifies himself with the Virgin Mary at the foot of the Cross and where the expression of his sincere affliction reaches universal grandeur. premiered in 1880 in Prague, quickly enjoyed immense success and was performed throughout Europe and in the United States, contributing to the international recognition of the composer.