A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Seven Last Words, The
SEVEN LAST WORDS, THE—i.e. the seven last sentences or exclamations of Christ:—(1) 'Pater dimitte illis; non enim sciunt quid faciant.' (2) 'Amen dico tibi, hodie mecum eris in paradiso.' (3) 'Mulier ecce filius tuns, et tu ecce mater tua.' (4)'Sitio.' (5) 'Deusmeus, Deus meus,utquiddereliquistime?' (6) 'Consummatum est.' (7) 'Pater in manus tuas cornmendo spiritum meum.'—A composition of Haydn's dating about 1785. It was then the custom in the principal church of Cadiz to have a kind of oratorio during Passion week.[1] The church was hung with black, and a single lamp only was lighted. At noon the doors were shut. An orchestral prelude was played; then the Bishop mounted the pulpit, read one of our Lord's last 'words,' and made an exhortation upon it. He then came down, and threw himself on his knees before the altar. During this there was again orchestral music. He then mounted the pulpit a second time, and pronounced the second 'word,' and a second discourse, and so on till the last. In or about 1785 Haydn received a request from Cadiz to compose orchestral pieces for this purpose, each piece to be an adagio of about 10 minutes long. This he did, substituting however (as the original parts show) for the Bishop's voice a long recitative for a bass in the case of each of the seven 'words.' In this form the work was performed at Vienna, March 26, 1787, and was published in parts by Artaria in the same year—as '7 sonate, con un Introduzione, ed al fine un teremoto'—for orchestra, op. 47; for strings, op. 48; for piano solo, op. 49. It quickly spread to other countries, was sold to Forster of London in the summer of the same year for 5 guineas, Haydn protesting, and endeavouring to obtain another 5, but with doubtful success;[2] and was announced by Longman and Broderip in The Times of Jan. 1, 1788, as 'A set of Quartetts … expressive of the Passion of Our Saviour, op. 48. 8s.' Haydn himself conducted them (whether with the recitatives or not and for full orchestra does not appear) as the middle part of a concert at the King's Theatre, Haymarket, May 30, 1791, and repeated the performance at the benefit of little Clement the violin-player. For the payment for the Paris edition he waited long. At last a package arrived from the publisher containing a chocolate tart. After looking at it for some time in disgust he broke off a piece for his servant, when out ran a number of ducats!
The work is now known as a cantata, with words to each movement. When or by whom the words were added is not quite clear; for the various statements the reader must be referred to Pohl's 'Joseph Haydn' (ii. 217, 218).[3] Pohl's conclusion appears to be that Haydn adapted to his music—perhaps with Van Swieten's assistance—words which he met with at Passau on his way to England in 1794, except those to the Earthquake, which are from Rammler's 'Tod Jesu.' At the same time he arranged each of the 'words' in plain harmony, and added a movement for wind instruments only between movements 4 and 5. The 'Seven Words' were for long a favourite in Vienna both in church and concert-room. One of the last performances was at the Alt-Lerchenfeld church, when Franz Schubert's brother Anton ('Father Hermann') delivered the discourses.[4]