Translation of Stabat Mater

[Richard Huggins]

I saw the request below on an e-mail-based church music list and it sounds
like this is the kind of thing this newsgroup could help with. If someone
can fulfill this request either post it here or email to me,
<hug...@tyler.net> and either way I will pass it along to her.

If you would prefer to fax something, let me know and I'll provide a number.

Thanks.

Richard

**********************
My name is Hazel Burke, and I live in Barbados .

I am the founder of the St. Patrick's Junior Choir which is now The Guild
of St. Cecilia.

We are attempting Pergolesi's Stabat Mater for 2 voices this Lent.
Could anyone assist me in obtaining an English translation, since I want to
perform some of the pieces in English. I had copy of Pergolesi's 4 part but
I can't locate it now.

Thank you
**********************

[Joseph Hamm]

From: "Translations and Annotations of Choral Repertoire; Vol. 1: Sacred
Texts"
compiled and annotated by Ron Jeffers, copyright 1988 by earthsongs

Sabat Mater dolorosa is a sequence used for Mass for on the Friday after
Passion Sunday (feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary) and
used during Lent.

Here is the first half of the sequence. I don't know how much you want, but
it is quite lengthy.

Stabat Mater dolorosa
Juxta crucem lacrymosa
Dum pendebat Filius

"There stood the Mother grieving,
Beside the cross weeping.
While on it hung her son."

Cujus animam gementem,
Contristatam et dolentem
Pertansivit gladius.

"Whose saddened soul,
sighing and suffering
A sword pierced through."

O quam tristis et afflicta
Fuit illa benedicta
Mater unigeniti!

"O how sad and how afflicted
Was that blessed Mother
Of the Only-Begotten!"

Quae moerbat et dolebat,
Pia Mater, dum videbat
Nati poenas incliti.

"Loving Mother, who was grieving
And suffering, while she beheld
The torments of her glorius Son.

Quis est homo qui on fleret,
Matrem Christi si videret
in tanto supplicio?

"Who is the man who would not weep
If he should see the Mother of Christ
In such great distress?"

Quis non poseet contristari
Christi Matrem contemplari
Dolentem cum Filio?

"Who could not be saddened
If he should behold the Mother of Christ
Suffering with her only Son?"

Pro peccatis suae genis
Vidit Jesum in tormentis,
Et flagellis subditum.

"For the sins of his people,
She saw Jesus in torments
And subjected to stripes."

Vidit suum dulcem natum
Moriendo desolatum,
Dum emisit spiritum.

"She saw her own sweet Son,
Whose dying caused his desolation,
While he yielded up his Spirit."

Joseph Hamm, Director
The Center Choirs
Center School District
Kansas City, MO