[1] Poulenc's setting, scored for soprano solo, mixed chorus, and orchestra, premiered on the 13th of June 1951 at the Strasbourg Festival.
[2][3] It was well received throughout Europe and in the United States where it won the New York Critic's Circle Award for Best Choral Work of the year.
[4] The Stabat Mater is divided into twelve movements,[5] which vary dramatically in character from somber to light and frivolous, even on the most serious of texts.
The soprano soloist appears in only three movements: Vidit suum, Fac ut portem, and Quando corpus.
The chorus appears largely a cappella in two others, O quam tristis and Fac ut ardeat, although the orchestra is not fully silent in either.