The two settings of Stabat Mater by Palestrina and by Lassus are interesting to study because they do not use "word painting" much. Bergquist, in his Preface to Lassus's Penitential Psalms wrote "almost every individual verse [of the psalms] exhibits some kind of musical illustration of the text" (p. ix, Bergquist). In the psalms, Lassus uses analogy between the text and music extensively. However, in the settings of Stabat Mater, Lassus or Palestrina do not use obvious word painting or rhythmic variety to show the analogy. Instead, they both used, in different ways from one another, grouping and number of voices, division of verses, and more interesting way than word painting to emphasize, and accentuate certain words to catch attention of the listeners.
Palestrina and Lassus both use double-choir setting for the Mass, but they make up the two choruses differently. Palestrina uses two choruses each consisting of soprano, alto, tenor, and bass whereas Lassus uses a first chorus consisting of Superius I, Superius II, Altus I, Tenor I; and a second chorus consisting of Altus II, Tenor II, Tenor III, and Bassus. Palestrina uses the number of voices to accentuate words and phrases. In verse II, he first makes each choruses to sing a phrase alternately, then uses the full chorus to emphasize the line "Nati poenas inclyti (the torment of her glorious child)" (pp. 6-7: MCD96: Example 1). Palestrina emphasized "torment" and drew attention of the listener to the word by building layers of voices on the phrase. In verse III of Lassus's setting, Lassus uses two sets of duet: two superius, altus, and tenor. I do not see the connection between the use of two voices instead of four with the text, but maybe he was just interested in varying the texture of the Mass.
Palestrina does not reflect the semantics or the syntax of the text in the phrasing of music. He puts a full cadence at the end of verse I, and makes verse II sound like a new section when verses I and II make up one semantic section in the poem (pp. 3-4: MCD96: Example 2). In ignoring the pairing of the first two verses, and using the full chorus at the beginning of verse II "O quam tristis et afflicta," he clearly brings out the strong feeling expressed by the exclamatory sentence. In verse III, he does not use inconclusive cadences like plagal cadences, to reflect the interrogative sentences. Rather, he uses full cadences for both of the sentences ending with question marks, I think because, to him, those sentences are not really asking for an answer, but for consent from the readers (pp. 9-10: MCD96: Example 3). Another part where Palestrina does not reflect the division of the verses in the music is verses VII and VIII. Verse VI goes right into verse VII, and in the middle of verse VII, Palestrina reduces the full choir to a quartet consisting of two sopranos, an alto, and a tenor. This difference in texture is carried on until the middle of verse VIII, where the music ends on a full cadence, followed by a semibreve rest, setting apart the next line in full chorus "Fac ut portem Christi mortem (let me carry Christ's death)" (pp. 20-25: MCD96: Example 4). From the last two lines of verse VII till the middle of verse IX, Palestrina again uses different voice groups than the regular semi- or full chorus, and then brings back the full chorus for the line "inflammatus et accensus (inflamed and excited)" (pp. 22-29: MCD96: Example 5). In verse X, he literally strengthens the music by using full chorus for line 3 "confoveri gratia (strengthened by grace)" (pp. 31-32: MCD 96: Example 6). Lassus's setting of Stabat Mater is different because Lassus reflects the syntax of the whole poem by setting each verse to music that cadences at the end. It does not flow from one to another. The whole piece is like a series of motets.
Although neither of the composers use extensive word painting, they use some. In Palestrina's setting, the last line of verse IV, "Dun emisit spiritum (as He gave up the spirit)," has ascending tenor I and II lines, and the final note of the bass goes up instead of down (pp. 13-14: MCD96: Example 7), to represent giving up the spitir. The last line of verse X, "Paradisi gloria (the glory of Paradise)" comes in when "donetur (granted)" in the previous phrase is sung; Palestrina might be expressing "granted" by bringing "Paradisi" in before "donetur" ends (pp. 33-34: MCD96: Example 8). Unlike the rest of the piece, this line gets repeated three times, as though expressing the full glory of Paradise. I really like the last touch Palestrina added; he makes one of the tenors sing "gloria" after everyone else has cadenced, as if the glory of Paradise is still lingering. Lassus does some text painting but not much. In verse IV, he makes the Superius I part go up to express "emisit (gave up)" (m. 105: MCD1777: Example 9). In verse XIII, he repeats "Et plagas recolere (and meditate upon His wounds)" (mm. 205-11: MCD1777: Example 10), to express contemplation or meditation.
Instead of extensively painting the text, Palestrina highlights the important part of the text in a very dramatic way. In verse IV, Palestrina interestingly overlaps the words "natum (son)" and "morientem (dying)" (pp. 12-13: MCD96: Example 11) "Natum" is a noun form of "natus (born)" and when it is overlapped by "morientem," it draws attention of the listeners and highlights those words. Lassus uses modality to bring attention to the line of text. Lassus intensifies the meaning of the words "Morte Christi (death of Christ)" not only by using it four times but also by using different mode for each repetition (mm. 237-43: MCD1777: Example 12). The previous cadence ends on g, the tonic for this Mass in G mixolydian. "Morte..." is in e major. At the same time, the modality quickly shifts from g major in m. 236 to a major in m. 238, then to d major in m. 239, and back to g major in m. 240. The most interesting way Lassus used to highlight the text is by phrase division. It is seen in the last four lines where Lassus divides the text into sections of almost symmetrical number of syllables to be alternatively sung by the two choruses (mm. 243-269: MCD1777: Example 13).
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Lassus draws attention of the listeners to the word "Fac" by successively reducing the number of syllables until "Fac" and then increasing it again. By de-dramatizing, Lassus highlights the text. Of course, at the end, he highlights the last line "Paradisi gloria" by making it flourish.
In Stabat Mater, both Palestrina and Lassus use some text painting, but not obvious ones like spatial correspondence or rhythm that Bergquist talks about in the Preface to Lassus's Penitential Psalms. The primary reason I thought is that the text is not so colorful (it is vivid and dramatic, though) as to allow the composers to "paint" it in musical language. The meaning of the text shifts not in color (e.g. sad to happy) but rather it shifts from the observation of the scene, to talking to the readers, to pleading to the Mother. Verses I and II depict the Mother grieving at the foot of the cross, and verse III talks to the reader and arouses sympathy for the grieving Mother. Verse IV gives the reason for calling for sympathy. Verses V to IX basically address the Virgin to make the writer to lament with her and make him feel the suffering of Christ so that, as verse X explains, the writer will be granted the glory of Paradise. The composers responded to the rather abstract text and made the music to reflect it through various, subtle means.