Lucca is said to be the city of a hundred churches and indeed, if one takes in the inimmediate hinterland it probably has even more than that number. One church I had never entered into but passed many times as it’s on the main route from Porta Elisa to the cathedral is that of Santa Maria Forisportam and the reason why I’d never visited it before was that its blazingly white facade  always seemed to have doors firmly closed. ‘Forisportam’ is Latin for ‘outside the gate’ and refers to the fact that Santa Maria is located outside the line of the ancient Roman walls (but still within the later walls which now surround Lucca and are its hallmark feature since the sixteenth century). The church is also known as Santa Maria Bianca to distinguish its gleaming marble facade from Santa Maria Nera, that glory of the baroque which I have mentioned in my post at https://longoio.wordpress.com/tag/santa-maria-corteorlandini/).

I finally managed to enter into Santa Maria Forisportam on Good Friday as a performance of Pergolesi’s ‘Stabat Mater’ was to be held there. I stepped into a wonderful Romanesque church in classic Luccan style with some surprising rich treasures in its baroque altars. Of particular interest were two Guercino paintings. Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (1591 – 1666), better known as Guercino, was an Italian Baroque painter and draftsman from Cento in the Emilia region. One of art critic Vittorio Sgarbi’s favourite painters Guercino is particularly well-known for his sensual brush-strokes and rapid, almost calligraphic technique. For an art gallery outside Italy to have a Guercino among its collection would be a supreme prize. Here two masterpieces lie languishing in a neglected church in Lucca.

The first is the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, dating from 1643 and commissioned by the Mazzarosa family to adorn the family chapel. Here Mary turns her face into the divine light and ascends among celestial clouds while Saints Alexander and Francis look on.

The other Guercino dates from 1642 and represents Saint Lucy holding a plate on which her eyes, gouged out at her execution in 304, are placed.

The Romanesque origin of Santa Maria Bianca comes to the fore in its stunning façade sculptures so rich in arcane symbolism.

And the concert? In this beautiful church Pergolesi’s ‘Stabat Mater’, his masterpiece composed virtually on his death-bed, was lovingly performed by the Animando ensemble conducted by Stefano Teani with Ilaria Casai (soprano) and Magdalena Urbanowicz (contralto). Modern instruments were used yet young but magisterial Teani managed to produce a beautifully finished historically informed performance. The two singers were particularly well-matched with a minimum of vibrato and interestingly contrasting performance style: Casai almost laid back in her placid countenance and Urbanowicz rather more dramatically involved in her delivery.

The concert was a double-first for me. First time in the church of Santa Maria Bianca and first time at a live performance of Pergolesi’s ‘Stabat Mater’ – a piece of music I had previously only admired from recordings of it which included that early one with Kathleen Ferrier, still incredibly moving.

Stepping out from sublime music into the still very warm late spring sunshine of Lucca was a perfect denouement. The wisteria pergola of the convent of San Francesco was particularly mind-blowing.

Again I felt what a beautiful world we live in and how anyone could spoil it and bring such death and destruction? It was indeed humanity’s ultimate Christian quandary expressed in that sublime poem by Jacopone da Todi and exquisitely set to music by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi.