Music critics consider STABAT MATER one of the most valuable creations bequeathed to us by Szymanowski. Familiar with the tradition of authorial recreation of the anonymous 13th-century text, which was in use in the Catholic worship since the mid-15th century and had inspired a number of Renaissance authors – Palestrina and Orlando di Lasso, Haydn, Rossini, Schubert, Verdi and Dvořák, Penderecki, Arvo Pärt, etc., the composer oriented his search toward a more transparent musical expressiveness based on ancient Polish songs and folklore. Szymanowski’s style was dominated by musical archaicism, and represented an important influence on the music of a number of younger Polish composers, for example, Górecki. The composition was originally conceived as a requiem commissioned by Warsaw-based patron of the arts, Dr. Bronisław Krystall, to commemorate his late young wife. Following the death of the composer’s niece in an accident, Szymanowski discarded the idea for a requiem and wrote a Stabat Mater with the dedication “To the Memory of Izabella Krystall”. The composer did not attend the premiere due to illness which had confined him to a sanatorium in Austria at the time of the performance. Szymanowski used the Polish translation of Józef Jankowski of the medieval Marian hymn, but outside Poland the work is sometimes performed in the original Latin text. The music sounds in mournful and heart-breaking manner. The work is cast in six parts, scored for a small orchestra and three soloists who rarely sing together.