Pergolesi: La Contadina, Mass in F , Concertos and sonatas

The music of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi was to have a remarkable effect upon the Baroque period, despite his tragically early death at the age of just 26. He was amongst the first composers to champion the new Italian model of ‘opera buffa’, and a string of successful productions of these works (beginning with Salustia in 1732) was to lead to his nickname “father of comic opera”.

In spite of achieving popularity as a composer in Italy, a great deal of Pergolesi’s music remained unknown to the general public during his lifetime, including his best-known work, the Stabat Mater for soprano and alto soloists with orchestra. First published in London in 1749, it would go on to become the most printed piece of music of the Eighteenth Century.

The Mass in F is one of only two authentic mass settings by Pergolesi, though at one stage there had been as many as nine such works attributed to him. Three notably different versions of the score exist in manuscript: one for soloists, fivepart choir and orchestra; one for soloists, five-part choir and two orchestras; and one for soloists, four five-part choirs and two orchestras. The work forms part of a strong bracket of sacred music by Pergolesi, in which of course his “Stabat Mater” has risen to enormous popular acclaim.