Jordi Savall
Originally written for orchestra:
The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour on the Cross (German: Die sieben letzten Worte unseres Erlösers am Kreuze) is an orchestral work by Joseph Haydn, commissioned in 1786 for the Good Friday service in Spain.
Original orchestral version (1786)
- Introduzione in D minor – Maestoso ed Adagio
- Sonata II (“Hodie mecum eris in paradiso”) in C minor, ending in C major – Grave e cantabile
- Sonata III (“Mulier, ecce filius tuus”) in E major – Grave
- Sonata IV (“Deus meus, Deus meus, utquid dereliquisti me”) in F minor – Largo
- Sonata V (“Sitio”) in A major – Adagio
- Sonata VI (“Consummatum est”) in G minor, ending in G major – Lento
- Sonata VII (“In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum”) in E-flat major –
- Largo
- Il terremoto (Earthquake) in C minor – Presto e con tutta la forza
Instruments:
- 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 bassoons,
- 2 horns, 2 trumpets
- timpani
- strings
Adapted for a string quartet:
Haydn tadapted it in 1787 for string quartet, then approved a version for solo piano in the same year.
Adapted in 1796 as an oratorio:
He added both solo voices and a churus.
He was paid with a cake:
The priest who commissioned the work, Don José Sáenz de Santa María, had reconditioned the Oratorio de la Santa Cueva, and paid Haydn in a most unusual way – sending the composer a cake which Haydn discovered was filled with gold coins.
At the request of his publisher, Artaria, the composer in 1787 produced a reduced version for string quartet: Haydn’s Opus 51.