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Giovanni Battista Pergolesi lived a tragic and short life from 1710 to 1736. He composed the Stabat Mater in the last months of his life at a monastery in Pozzuoli, Italy. Written for solo soprano and alto voices, Stabat Mater was written for the aristocracy of the church of St. Maria dei Sette Dolori in Naples and is a setting of the Feast of Seven Dolours of the Virgin Mary. Pergolesi wrote in an operatic style with a fugal opening but a traditional liturgical ending to the middle and ending movements. The piece was written circa 1735 and quickly became the most published piece of the 18th century.