Plainchant Tropes for Stations of the Cross
Category
choral
Opus
100a
Catalogue no
GS 
019
Instrumentation
2-part choir a cappella
DATE
2005
Duration
7 
mins
Publisher
Giles Swayne

This arrangement of the plainchant setting of the Stabat mater in fourteen stanzas was designed for use in conjunction with a complete performance of the organ cycle Stations of the Cross. It was first performed in 2014 by the choristers of Lincoln Cathedral with organist Clare Innes-Hopkins.

programme note

The plainchant line - slightly altered by the decorative use of musica ficta - is answered phrase by phrase at the fifth above or fourth below.  The mode of each of the fourteen stanzas is set a semitone higher than the one before - tracking the identical semitonal rise of the movements of the Stations of the Cross.

© 2025 Giles Swayne