''The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour on the Cross'' (German: ) is an orchestral work by

Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...

, commissioned in 1786 for the

Good Friday Good Friday is a Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary. It is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum. It is also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Great and Holy Friday (also Hol ...

service at

Oratorio de la Santa Cueva The Oratorio de la Santa Cueva is a church composed of two chapels, one superimposed above the other, adjacent to the Holy Rosary church in Cádiz. It was restored by the Veracruz-born priest, Don José Sáenz de Santa María, who also commission ...

(Holy Cave Oratory) in

Cádiz Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia. Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...

, Spain. Published in 1787 and performed then in Paris, Rome, Berlin and Vienna, the composer adapted it in 1787 for

string quartet The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists ...

, approved a version for solo

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

in the same year, and finally adapted it in 1796 as an

oratorio An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is mus ...

(with both solo and choral vocal forces). The seven main meditative sections are based on seven expressions attributed to Jesus during his crucifixion. The seven sections are labelled "sonatas" and are all slow. They are framed by a slow Introduction and a fast "Earthquake" conclusion, for a total of nine movements.

Origin

Haydn himself explained the origin and difficulty of writing the work when the publisher

Breitkopf & Härtel Breitkopf & Härtel is the world's oldest music publishing house. The firm was founded in 1719 in Leipzig by Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf. The catalogue currently contains over 1,000 composers, 8,000 works and 15,000 music editions or books on ...

issued (in 1801) a new edition and requested a preface:

Some fifteen years ago I was requested by a
canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...
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 Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke ...
, 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.

The priest who commissioned the work, Don José Sáenz de Santa María, had reconditioned the

, and paid Haydn in a most unusual way – sending the composer a cake which Haydn discovered was filled with gold coins.

Original orchestral version (1786)

The original 1786 work, for full classical

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

(instrumentation: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, strings), is as follows:HC Robbins Landon, ''Haydn: Chronicle and Works'', 5 vols, (Bloomington and London: Indiana University Press, 1976–) v. 2, ''Haydn at Eszterhaza, 1766–1790'' #Introduzione in D minor –

Maestoso ''Maestoso'' () is an Italian musical term and is used to direct performers to play a certain passage of music in a stately, dignified and majestic fashion (sometimes march-like) or, it is used to describe music as such. ''Maestoso'' also is ass ...

Adagio Adagio (Italian for 'slowly', ) may refer to: Music * Adagio, a tempo marking, indicating that music is to be played slowly, or a composition intended to be played in this manner * Adagio (band), a French progressive metal band Albums * ''Adagi ...

\relative d' \layout #Sonata I ("") in B-flat major – Largo
\relative f'' \layout #Sonata II ("") in C minor, ending in C major –

Grave A grave is a location where a dead body (typically that of a human, although sometimes that of an animal) is buried or interred after a funeral. Graves are usually located in special areas set aside for the purpose of burial, such as grave ...

cantabile In music, ''cantabile'' , an Italian word, means literally "singable" or "songlike". In instrumental music, it is a particular style of playing designed to imitate the human voice. For 18th-century composers, ''cantabile'' is often synonymous wit ...

\relative c'' #Sonata III ("") in E major – Grave
\relative e' #Sonata IV ("") in F minor – Largo
\relative f' #Sonata V ("") in A major – Adagio
\layout \new PianoStaff #Sonata VI ("") in G minor, ending in G major – Lento
\relative g'' #Sonata VII ("") in E-flat major – Largo
\relative bes #Il terremoto (Earthquake) in C minor – Presto e con tutta la forza
\layout \relative g The seven meditations on the Last Words are excerpted from all four gospels. The "Earthquake" movement derives from

Matthew Matthew may refer to: * Matthew (given name) * Matthew (surname) * ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497 * ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith * Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Ch ...

27:51ff. Much of the work is consolatory, but the "Earthquake" brings a contrasting element of supernatural intervention—the orchestra is asked to play ''presto e con tutta la forza''—and closes with the only fortississimo (triple forte) in the piece. Haydn uses an extremely wide range of tonalities for a composition of the time. Musicologist Mark Spitzer observes of this: "In its tonal freedom tanticipates aydn'slate Masses, particularly the ''Harmoniemesse'' ... The only other Classical 'multi-piece' which spreads itself across the entire tonal gamut with this architectural breadth is Beethoven's String Quartet in C♯ minor, op. 131 ... Why, then, is Beethoven given credit for experimental daring when Haydn, once again, gets there first?"

String quartet version (1787)

At the request of his publisher,

Artaria Artaria & Co. () was one of the most important music publishing firms of the late 18th and 19th century. Founded in the 18th century in Vienna, the company is associated with many leading names of the classical era. History Artaria & Co. was foun ...

, the composer in 1787 produced a reduced version for

: Haydn's Opus 51. This is the form in which the music is most often heard today: a group of seven works (Hoboken-Verzeichnis III/50–56), with the Introduction abutting Sonata I and Sonata VII joined by the Earthquake. The first violin part includes the Latin text directly under the notes, which "speak" the words musically. This version has come under suspicion of authenticity due to an occasionally careless manner of transcription, with crucial wind passages left out and only the accompanimental figures in the strings retained. As a result, some quartets make their own adaptation, working from the orchestral original. Quartets have occasionally created performances that evoked the format of the premiere, with verse readings replacing the original words and sermons. The

Brentano String Quartet The Brentano Quartet is an American string quartet. History Founded in 1992 at the Juilliard School, the quartet's founding members were violinists Mark Steinberg and Serena Canin, violist Misha Amory, and cellist Michael Kannen. At the suggesti ...

, for instance, commissioned poet

Mark Strand Mark Strand (April 11, 1934 – November 29, 2014) was a Canadian-born American poet, essayist and translator. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1990 and received the Wallace Stevens Award in 2004 ...

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''). In another recorded example, by the

Aeolian Quartet The Aeolian Quartet was a highly reputed string quartet based in London, England, with a long international touring history and presence, an important recording and broadcasting profile. It was the successor of the pre-War Stratton Quartet. The qu ...

in 1976, poetic readings were substituted for the "words", read by

Peter Pears Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears ( ; 22 June 19103 April 1986) was an English tenor. His career was closely associated with the composer Benjamin Britten, his personal and professional partner for nearly forty years. Pears' musical career started ...

; these readings were from

John Donne John Donne ( ; 22 January 1572 – 31 March 1631) was an English poet, scholar, soldier and secretary born into a recusant family, who later became a clergy, cleric in the Church of England. Under royal patronage, he was made Dean of St Paul's ...

(Introduction),

George Herbert George Herbert (3 April 1593 – 1 March 1633) was an English poet, orator, and priest of the Church of England. His poetry is associated with the writings of the metaphysical poets, and he is recognised as "one of the foremost British devoti ...

(Adagio), Robert Herrick (Grave e cantabile), an anonymous 15th century writer (Grave),

Edith Sitwell Dame Edith Louisa Sitwell (7 September 1887 – 9 December 1964) was a British poet and critic and the eldest of the three literary Sitwells. She reacted badly to her eccentric, unloving parents and lived much of her life with her governess ...

(Largo),

Edwin Muir Edwin Muir CBE (15 May 1887 – 3 January 1959) was a Scottish poet, novelist and translator. Born on a farm in Deerness, a parish of Orkney, Scotland, he is remembered for his deeply felt and vivid poetry written in plain language and w ...

(Adagio) and

David Gascoyne David Gascoyne (10 October 1916 – 25 November 2001) was an English poet associated with the Surrealist movement, in particular the British Surrealist Group. Additionally he translated work by French surrealist poets. Early life and surrealis ...

(Lento), and the final Largo and Earthquake completed the performance.

Choral version (1796)

In the course of his second journey to London (1794–1795), in

Passau Passau (; bar, label=Central Bavarian, Båssa) is a city in Lower Bavaria, Germany, also known as the Dreiflüssestadt ("City of Three Rivers") as the river Danube is joined by the Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north. Passau's popu ...

, Haydn had heard a revised version of his work, amplified to include a chorus, prepared by the Passau

Kapellmeister (, also , ) from German ''Kapelle'' (chapel) and ''Meister'' (master)'','' literally "master of the chapel choir" designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term ha ...

Joseph Friebert Johann Joseph Friebert (4 December 1724 – 6 August 1799), also known as Giuseppe Fribert, was an Austrian opera singer and composer. Amongst his compositions were four singspiels, six operas, and several pieces of church music. As a singer, he w ...

. The words were not the original Latin but

pietist Pietism (), also known as Pietistic Lutheranism, is a movement within Lutheranism that combines its emphasis on biblical doctrine with an emphasis on individual piety and living a holy Christianity, Christian life, including a social concern for ...

poetry, written in German. Haydn was impressed with the new work and decided to improve on it, preparing his own choral version. He had the assistance of Baron

Gottfried van Swieten Gottfried Freiherr van Swieten (29 October 1733 – 29 March 1803) was a Dutch-born Austrian diplomat, librarian, and government official who served the Holy Roman Empire during the 18th century. He was an enthusiastic amateur musician and is be ...

, who revised the lyrics used by Friebert. This was the first work in a serial collaboration with van Swieten as librettist that continued with the later oratorios '' The Creation'' and '' The Seasons''. The choral version was privately premiered in Vienna on 26 March 1796 before an audience of the nobility, under the sponsorship of the

Gesellschaft der Associierten The Gesellschaft der Associierten was an association of music-loving noblemen centered in Vienna and founded by Baron Gottfried van Swieten in 1786. The society sponsored concerts, often reviving music from the past, and also commissioned new work ...

. The public premiere was on 1 April 1798, sponsored by the

Tonkünstler-Societät The Tonkünstler-Societät ("Society of Musicians") was a benevolent society for musicians in Vienna, which lasted from the mid-18th century to the mid-20th. Its purpose was "to support retired musicians and their families". Beginning in 1772, the ...

, a Viennese benefit society for musicians. The work was published in 1801.Source for this paragraph: Temperley (1991, 7)

Hoboken-Verzeichnis numbering

''The Seven Last Words of Christ'' has its own section in the

Hoboken-Verzeichnis The Hoboken catalogue is a catalogue of the musical compositions by Joseph Haydn compiled by Anthony van Hoboken. It is intended to cover the composer's entire oeuvre and includes over 750 entries. Its full title in the original German is ''Josep ...

(Hob. XX): * Hob. XX/1 – instrumental versions ::Hob. XX/1A – orchestral version (1786) ::Hob. XX/1B – quartet version (1787) = Hob. III/50–56 in the quartet section of the catalogue, also Op. 51 ::Hob. XX/1C – piano version (1787) * Hob. XX/2 – choral version (oratorio, 1796).

Selected discography

Original orchestral version (1786) * ''The Seven Last Words of Christ''

Le Concert des Nations ''Le Concert des Nations'' is an orchestra using period instruments, which performs the orchestral and symphonic repertoire from the Baroque to Romanticism: 1600 - 1900. The orchestra was created in 1989, the youngest of the groups conducted by th ...

Jordi Savall Jordi Savall i Bernadet (; born 1 August 1941) is a Spanish conductor, composer and viol player. He has been one of the major figures in the field of Western early music since the 1970s, largely responsible for popularizing the viol family of ...

. Recorded in the

with readings by theologian

Raimon Panikkar Raimon Panikkar Alemany, also known as Raimundo Panikkar and Raymond Panikkar (November 2, 1918 – August 26, 2010), was a Spanish Roman Catholic priest and a proponent of Interfaith dialogue. As a scholar, he specialized in comparative reli ...

and Nobel Prize winner

José Saramago José de Sousa Saramago, GColSE ComSE GColCa (; 16 November 1922 – 18 June 2010), was a Portuguese writer and recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature for his "parables sustained by imagination, compassion and irony ith which heco ...

. CD or DVD. * ''The Seven Last Words of Christ''

Wiener Philharmoniker The Vienna Philharmonic (VPO; german: Wiener Philharmoniker, links=no) is an orchestra that was founded in 1842 and is considered to be one of the finest in the world. The Vienna Philharmonic is based at the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria. It ...

Riccardo Muti Riccardo Muti, (; born 28 July 1941) is an Italian conductor. He currently holds two music directorships, at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and at the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini. Muti has previously held posts at the Maggio Musicale ...

. Recorded in concert in the

Großes Festspielhaus The ''Großes Festspielhaus'' (Large Festival House), in its current form, was designed by architect Clemens Holzmeister in 1956 for the Salzburg Festival in Austria. It was inaugurated on 26 July 1960 with a performance of Richard Strauss' ''D ...

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

on 25 August 1982.

Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...

CD. *''The Seven Last Words of Christ'' Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century,

Frans Brüggen Franciscus ("Frans") Jozef Brüggen (30 October 1934 – 13 August 2014) was a Dutch Conducting, conductor, recorder player and baroque flautist. Biography Born in Amsterdam, Brüggen was the last of the nine children of August Brüggen, a textile ...

. Glossa CD, 2009. *''The Seven Last Words of Christ''

Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields The Academy of St Martin in the Fields (ASMF) is an English chamber orchestra, based in London. John Churchill, then Master of Music at the London church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, and Neville Marriner founded the orchestra as "The Academy o ...

Neville Marriner Sir Neville Marriner, (15 April 1924 – 2 October 2016) was an English violinist and "one of the world's greatest conductors". Gramophone lists Marriner as one of the 50 greatest conductors and another compilation ranks Marriner #14 of the ...

. His Master's Voice – ASD 3451. Recorded May 1977 in London, England. String quartet version (1787) * Haydn: ''The Seven Last Words of Christ''

Juilliard String Quartet The Juilliard String Quartet is a classical music string quartet founded in 1946 at the Juilliard School in New York by William Schuman. Since its inception, it has been the quartet-in-residence at the Juilliard School. It has received numerous ...

, Benita Valente,

Jan DeGaetani Jan (Janice) DeGaetani (July 10, 1933 – September 15, 1989) was an American mezzo-soprano known for her performances of contemporary classical vocal compositions. DeGaetani was born in Massillon, Ohio. Educated at The Juilliard School with ...

, Jon Humphrey, Thomas Paul,

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

, 1990 (nominated for the

Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance The Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance was awarded from 1959 to 2011. The award was discontinued in 2012 in a major overhaul of Grammy categories; since 2012, recordings in this category have fallen under the Best Small Ensemble Perfor ...

in 1991) * Haydn: String Quartet, Op. 51 ''Seven Last Words'' The Lindsays ASV Penguin Guide Rosette * Haydn: ''The Seven Last Words of Christ''

Cuarteto Casals The Cuarteto Casals (''Casals Quartet'') is a Spanish string quartet based at l'Auditori in Barcelona, where all four members reside and teach at the Escola Superior de Musica de Catalunya. Formation The Cuarteto Casals was founded at the Rei ...

Harmonia Mundi Harmonia Mundi is an independent record label which specializes in classical music, jazz, and world music (on the World Village label). It was founded in France in 1958 and is now a subsidiary of PIAS Entertainment Group. Its Latin name ''ha ...

, 2014 *VII-LW: Die Sieben letzten Worte Matangi Quartet, Matangi Music, 2020 Piano version (1787) * Haydn: ''The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour on the Cross'', Hob.XX/1C (piano version)

Ronald Brautigam Ronald Brautigam (born 1954) is a Dutch concert pianist, best known for his performances of Beethoven's piano works on the fortepiano. Born in Amsterdam, Brautigam studied there with Jan Wijn (1971-79), then he left to study in London with John B ...

(fortepiano) BIS Choral version (1796) * Haydn: ''The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour on the Cross'', Hob.XX/2 (choral version)

Sandrine Piau Sandrine Piau (born 5 June 1965) is a French soprano. She is particularly renowned in Baroque music although also excels in Romantic and modernist art songs. She has the versatility to perform works from Vivaldi, Handel, Mozart to Schumann, Debus ...

, Ruth Sandhoff, Robert Getchell,

Harry van der Kamp Harry van der Kamp (born 1947 in Kampen) is a Dutch bass singer in opera and concert. Mostly active in Historically informed performance, he founded the Gesualdo Ensemble. He is also an academic voice teacher. Singing career Born in Kampen, va ...

Accentus Accentus (or Accentus Ecclesiasticus; Ecclesiastical accent) is a style of church music that emphasizes spoken word. It is often contrasted with ''concentus'', an alternative style that emphasizes harmony. The terms ''accentus'' and ''concentus'' ...

Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin (Academy for Early Music Berlin, short name: Akamus) is a German chamber orchestra founded in East Berlin in 1982. Each year Akamus gives approximately 100 concerts, ranging from small chamber works to large-scale s ...

Laurence Equilbey Laurence Equilbey (born 6 March 1962) is a French conductor, known for her work in the choral repertoire, and more recently as the founder and music director of the Insula Orchestra. Equilbey studied piano and flute in her early life. She under ...

References

Sources

* Geiringer, Karl and Irene Geiringer, Irene (1982). ''Haydn: A Creative Life in Music'' (3rd ed.). University of California Press. *Gotwals, Vernon, translator and editor. ''Haydn: Two Contemporary Portraits''. Milwaukee: University of Wisconsin Press. *Temperley, Nicholas (1991) ''Haydn, The Creation''. Cambridge University Press. . *Townsend, Pauline (1884) ''Joseph Haydn''. S. Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington ().

External links

*
Contemporary keyboard transcription
at

Werner Icking Music Archive The Werner Icking Music Archive (often abbreviated WIMA) is a web archive of liberally licensed sheet music of public domain music. The scores are electronically typeset by volunteers and distributed in PDF, often accompanied by their typesetting ...

''The Seven Last Words of Christ''
by Le Concert des Nations,

(conductor) {{DEFAULTSORT:Seven Last Words Of Christ, The Oratorios by Joseph Haydn Christian music 1786 compositions 1787 compositions Passion settings Oratorios based on the Bible German-language oratorios category:Music based on the Crucifixion of Jesus