[From the opening words, L. stabat mater dolorosa, ‘Stood the mother, full of grief.’] A sequence, composed by Jacobus de Benedictis in the 13th c., in commemoration of the sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Also a musical setting of this sequence.
There are other sequences beginning with the same words: ‘Stabat mater regis nostri’ (13–14th c.), ‘Stabat mater anxiata’ (1519), ‘Stabat mater speciosa’ (late 15th c.). None of these are in regular liturgical use, but some of them have well-known musical settings.
1867. Lady Herbert, Cradle L., iv. 120. While the low chant of the ‘Stabat Mater’ echoed through the deserted streets.
1883. Rockstro, in Grove’s Dict. Mus., III. 684. The ‘Stabat Mater’ of Josquin des Prés, founded upon the Canto fermo just mentioned. Ibid. Haydn’s ‘Stabat Mater’ is a treasury of refined and graceful Melody.
