The composer

Though the tragically short-lived Pergolesi (1710-36) inevitably features in the list of classical music’s ‘what might have beens’, he nonetheless packed a lot into his short time on this earth. Pergolesi moved to Naples from the Marche region in 1725, where he became the toast of the town, composing eight operas for the city’s stages, plus one for Rome. His output also included a number of chamber and choral works, including the Stabat Mater, which was written while the composer was dying from turberculosis in a Franciscan monastery in Pouzzuoli.