The cantata Stabat Mater (1736) about the suffering that Mary experienced at the crucifixion of her son, Jesus Christ, became the last work by the Italian composer G.B. Pergolesi.

The twenty-six-years-old composer was dying from tuberculosis and working on the music at a Franciscan monastery near Naples. After several decades his cantata Stabat Mater, whose tragic text was softened by its wonderful, sensual and lyrical music, became one of the most famous and iconic works in Europe.