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The Seven Last Words of Christ
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The Seven Last Words of Christ (German: Die sieben letzten Worte unseres Erlösers am Kreuze, "The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour on the Cross") is a classical composition by Joseph Haydn, featuring seven meditations on the last words of Jesus Christ, commissioned in 1787 for the Good Friday service at the Grotto Santa Cueva near Cádiz in southern Spain.
composer later explained to his amanuensis G.A.
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The Seven Last Words of Christ (German: Die sieben letzten Worte unseres Erlösers am Kreuze, "The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour on the Cross") is a classical composition by Joseph Haydn, featuring seven meditations on the last words of Jesus Christ, commissioned in 1787 for the Good Friday service at the Grotto Santa Cueva near Cádiz in southern Spain.
Composer's explanation of piece
The composer later explained to his amanuensis G.A. Griesinger:
"Some fifteen years ago I was requested by a canon of Cádiz to compose instrumental music on the seven last words of Our Savior on the Cross. It was customary at the Cathedral of Cádiz to produce an oratorio every year during Lent, the effect of the performance being not a little enhanced by the following circumstances. The walls, windows, and pillars of the church were hung with black cloth, and only one large lamp hanging from the center of the roof broke the solemn darkness. At midday, the doors were closed and the ceremony began. After a short service the bishop ascended the pulpit, pronounced the first of the seven words (or sentences) and delivered a discourse thereon. This ended, he left the pulpit and fell to his knees before the altar. The interval was filled by music. The bishop then in like manner pronounced the second word, then the third, and so on, the orchestra following on the conclusion of each discourse. My composition was subject to these conditions, and it was no easy task to compose seven adagios lasting ten minutes each, and to succeed one another without fatiguing the listeners; indeed, I found it quite impossible to confine myself to the appointed limits."
Original Formulation for Orchestra
The piece consists of an introduction, seven sonatas and a finale:
- Introduzione, D minor, Maestoso ed Adagio
- Sonata I ('Pater, dimitte illis, quia nesciunt, quid faciunt'), B flat, Largo
- Sonata II ('Hodie mecum eris in Paradio'), C minor, Grave e cantabile, ending in C major
- Sonata III ('Mulier, ecce filius tuus'), E major, Grave
- Sonata IV ('Deus meus, Deus meus, utquid dereliquisti me'), F minor, Largo
- Sonata V ('Sitio'), A major, Adagio
- Sonata VI ('Consummatum est'), G minor, Lento, ending in G major
- Sonata VII ('In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum'), E flat, Largo
- Il terremoto, C minor, Presto e con tutta la forza
Originally these seven meditations on the Last Words (culled from the various gospels) were for a full classical orchestra; as well as the actual "musical discourse" Haydn added an "Introduzione" and, at the end, a "Terremoto" or earthquake, after Matthew 28:2. Much of the work is consolatory and meditative, but this last movement introduces a very different element of supernatural intervention: Haydn asks the orchestra to play “Presto e con tutta la forza,” and it closes with the unprecedented dynamic of fortississimo (triple forte).
Other arrangements by Haydn
Haydn later went on to add choral parts (in German) to this orchestral work between 1795 and 1796 , more precisely, he reworked Friebert's arrangement (text had been provided by baron van Swieten, details in Grove's) and later had a version published for string quartet. The first violin part of the quartet version includes the Latin text directly under the notes which "speak" the words musically. This quartet version has come under some suspicion of its authenticity, due to the occasionally careless manner of transcription, with crucial wind passages left out and only the accompanimental figures in the strings retained, and while this remains the most popular version of this piece, many quartets make their own adaptation of the orchestral original. The Brentano String Quartet commissioned Mark Strand to supply a series of readings to replace the "words"; the result was "Poem After the Seven Last Words" (included in the volume Man and Camel).
A recording of the String Quartet version was made by the Aeolian Quartet in 1976 in which poetic readings were substituted for the "words", read by Peter Pears. The readings were from John Donne (Introduction), George Herbert (Adagio), Robert Herrick (Grave e cantabile), Anon (15th century) (Grave), Edith Sitwell (Largo), Edwin Muir (Adagio) and David Gascoyne (Lento). The final Largo and Earthquake complete the performance.
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