for soprano, SA choir and orchestra I któż widział tak cierpiącą (Quis est homo qui non fleret, verses 5–8) for baritone, SATB choir and orchestra O matko źródło wszechmiłości (O eia mater fons amoris, verses 9–12) for soprano, alto, SA choir and orchestra Spraw niech płaczę z tobą razem (Fac me tecum pie flere, verses 13–14) for soprano, alto and SATB choir unaccompanied Panno słodka racz mozołem (Virgo virginum praeclara, verses 15–18) for baritone, SATB choir and orchestra Chrystus niech mi będzie grodem (Christe cum sit hinc exire, verses 19–20) for soprano, alto, baritone, SATB choir and orchestra Polish Text Szymanowski chose to set Jozef Janowski's (1865–1935) Polish translation of the Latin Stabat mater text. Though the 13th-century text is already inherently dramatic, this translation is especially raw; Kornel Michałowski suggests that the composer's attraction to it resulted from its "unusually primitive, almost 'folk-like' simplicity and naivety". The score includes the Latin original for reference only and it notes that the work should always be sung in Polish when performed in Poland. An English translation and commentary on the Polish translation is given in: Belland, Douglas Keith. An examination of the Persichetti, Poulenc, and Szymanowski Stabat Mater settings with pertinent information on the text. Dissertation: University of Cincinnati, 1992. Influence of Early Music Coinciding with his setting of the Stabat mater was Szymanowski's study of early music, encompassing pre-Palestrinian and Palestrinian periods as well as old Polish religious music. Early-music devices used in the score indicating this study include: parallel movement between voices; modal pitch organization; and strongly patterned rhythms such as ostinati. Also incorporated into the Stabat mater are melodic elements of two Polish Hymns: Święty Boże [Holy God] and Gorzkie żale [Bitter Sorrows].." Nationalism and folk music Influenced by composers such as Stravinsky and Bartók, Szymanowski began to incorporate folk music into the work of his late period (after 1922). In the years preceding his setting of the Stabat mater, he kept a notebook of highlanders' melodies or devices encountered in his visits to the Tatra Mountains and later incorporated into his compositions. For example, his use of the Podhalean mode, an ancient Polish folk mode characterized by its raised fourth-scale degree (Lydian), can be heard in the Stabat mater. References Bibliography Belland, Douglas Keith. An examination of the Persichetti, Poulenc, and Szymanowski Stabat Mater settings with pertinent information on the text. Dissertation: University of Cincinnati, 1992. Chylinska,