24 FLAC Discount Charles de Brosses' Lettres d'Italie (which circulated widely in late eighteenth-century France) express the view that Pergolesi was the greatest opera composer of his time and the creator of a miraculous work, the matchless summit of all religious music: the Stabat Mater. 'Of all these musicians, my favourite composer is Pergolesi. Ah, what fair genius, simple and natural! It is impossible to write with greater ease, grace, and good taste... His Stabat Mater is regarded as the masterpiece of Latin music. There is scarcely another piece more highly praised than this one for the profound learning of its harmony.' (Letter LI)