Stabat Mater, one of the Four Sacred Pieces, was the last composition completed by Verdi, at 84 years of age. These choral pieces mark the great creative departure of a prolific composer with extensive work characterised by fertile invention, displaying the emotional intensity that Verdi always poured into his hailed operas. In fact, it was between his ultimate stage compositions, Othello and Falstaff that, in a first moment, the first two pieces of the cycle were born, between 1886 and 1889. It was only in 1896 that Te Deum and Stabat Mater emerged, the two final lavish legacies.