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Educational dance performance with pre-recorded music.
With the participation of:
Fr. JUOZAPAS MARIJA ŽUKAUSKAS OFM
AUDRONĖ JUOZAUSKAITĖ, KSMT's Deputy General Manager for Artistic Affairs
In his Stabat Mater, Edward Clug – an accomplished choreographer of international fame and Artistic Director of the Maribor Ballet (Slovene National Theatre) – engages in a resolutely modern, delicate and yet somewhat ironic, dialogue with Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, a masterpiece of the Italian Baroque. Written in the last few weeks before the composer’s death in 1736, this tremendously expressive score for soprano, alto, strings and basso continuo is the setting of a 13th-century Christian hymn Stabat Mater dolorosa (“the sorrowful mother was standing” in Latin). According to one version, the Latin poem is attributed to the Franciscan friar, Jacopone da Todi. Once he was a wealthy nobleman who gave away all his possessions and became a wandering ascetic, after his wife was killed in an accident, for which he held himself indirectly responsible. Thus, the hymn about the suffering of the Blessed Virgin Mary, standing at the cross and mourning her crucified son, was written as a penitence for his worldly and greedy life.
Clug's Stabat Mater was commissioned by and first put on at the Gärtnerplatztheater in Munich in 2013 and received several revivals before reaching Klaipėda in summer 2021 where it was produced by the Klaipėda State Music Theatre for its open-air Klaipėda Festival.
A note from the choreographer: "It was neither my wish, nor idea to choose Pergolesi for this performance; it came as part of the commission. At first, I thought it was impossible to dance to Pergolesi’s music, so I decided to focus on the text, which remained the same over the centuries and in numerous settings. I had to find a way not to treat Pergolesi but to find the right theatrical environment that would frame my vision of his music. Together with set designer Jordi Roig, we came up with these very simple, clean and at the same time effective frames and images, directly referring to but not exactly retelling the biblical story of crucifixion. In one of the scenes, you can almost sense the aggression of a man against a woman, which resonates with the life of the author of this religious poem. But I did this intuitively, without having any knowledge of the story behind the text. On the other hand, when listening to Pergolesi’s music I became increasingly intrigued by his treatment of the text. Of course, the music, as we know it, is so striking, powerful and painful. But there are some arias in the Stabat Mater that convey some sort of joy or even happiness, which stand in complete contrast to the text portraying the Blessed Virgin’s sorrows. It made me understand that in a deeper, metaphysical sense the piece is more likely a sound depiction of hope and solace than of the pain and suffering. It also provoked me to reflect on life in all its dimensions, including almost humorous aspects in everyday life of contemporary women and men."
