Haydn : The 7 Last Words Of Christ On The Cross

Haydn: Septem Verba Christi in Cruce
This is the original orchestral version of Haydns composition. This work was commissioned by the cathedral of Cadiz in Spain to be played as part of the liturgy on Good Friday. The liturgy required seven short "interludes" based on the seven last words spoken by Christ on the cross.
The procedure was as follows: The priest recited each of the seven texts from the pulpit and commented on them. After each of the "words" he descended from the pulpit. During this time the appropriate piece of music by Haydn was played before the priest remounted the steps to the pulpit and recited the next "word". This procedure was repeated seven times. For the conclusion of this procedure Haydn composed a short, but highly expressive orchestral interpretation of an earthquake, presumably a reference to the bible text ("in the ninth hour"). A remarkable composition which foreshadows Beethoven's storm in the Pastoral Symphony.
It is known that Haydn accepted this commission with some trepidation. How was he to compose seven slow pieces to be performed one after another without becoming monontonous? He wouldn't have been Hydn had he not mastered this challenge. Piece after piece Haydn heightenes the intensity of the music.
The perfomance in Cadiz was succesful but Haydn felt that his composition deserved a wider audience (like Handel he was a shrewd business man). So he arranged the compositon for three other performance possiblities - for a string quartet, for solo-piano (not so sucessful) and lastly for a large-scale orchestral, vocal and choral ensemble. This seldom performed version was the result of a suggestion made to Haydn by a church musician in the employ of the cathedral of Passau on the Danube. Haydn stopped over in Passau on the way back from his second London stay - the local church musician was the brother of one of his musicians in the Esterhazy orchestra. It was this humble church musician who sugested to Haydn that he should rearrange the work for a choir and vocal soloists. In fact he had already had the "audacity" to rearranged the work himself and showed this to Haydn. This rearangement also involved the addition of more texts. One might expect that Haydn would have been annoyed by this meddling with his work but no, far from it! He welcomed the idea but felt that he could do a better job of rearranging the piece himself. Can you imagine how Beethoven would have reacted, not to mention a composer of the 20th. century! What an appealing person Haydn seems to have been! So he took the new texts with him to Vienna and, assisted by van Swieten (libretto of "The Creation") set about resetting the piece. This new expanded arrangement also included seven brief choral interludes in which each of "the words" is "recited".
This version is seldom performed today but two extremely good recordings exist (Harnoncourt (the pioneer as usual!) and recently "Accentus" with the "Akademie der alten Musik Berlin" - this recording is absolutely outstanding.
On the CD in question Savall performs the original purely orchestral version but inserts short spoken recitations in latin (they sound like Spanish) between each of the seven "words". He does this presumably in order to preserve something of the original function of the piece. This devotional aspect is what makes this performance special. Unlike many other interpretations Savall manages to convey that these pieces are meditations on the last words of Christ on the cross and not abstract music. In many cases, especially when performed by a string quartet these pieces sound like "normal" Haydn (the Emersons for example play superbly but far too extrovertly - the result sounds like a customary Haydn string quartet. Savall achieves a spirit of devotion without becoming sentimental or overwrought. His orchestra plays wonderfully with great detail and subtlety and the recording quality is perfectly in tune with the intention of the conductor. I could sense the meditative and highly expressive nature of this music for the first time.These are very special compositions by Haydn and Savall does them full justice. Highly recommended!