Haydn: The Seven Last Words Of Christ On The Cross

Description

The production is narrated by Gustaw Holoubek, a past master of the word. His greatest creations, admired on stage and screen, lose nothing when reduced to just sound. The meaning he found in the words invariably led to the heart of the author's thoughts. In his interpretations, outstanding literature gained a new lease of life.

In 1645 Heinrich Schütz, the greatest German composer of the seventeenth century, wrote the short (chamber) oratorio The Seven Words of Christ on the Cross— a work of extraordinary musical beauty and profound spiritual reflection.

Almost a century and a half later, it was performed for the first time. It was a purely instrumental, orchestral work, woven into the Good Friday liturgy.

Today somewhat eclipsed by the symphonies, quartets and last oratorios, it is not among the best known and most often played works of Haydn. It exists in three versions: the earliest orchestral version and the later versions for string quartet and in a vocal-instrumental, oratorial scoring (there is actually also a version for solo piano, prepared in order to popularise the work).

Most valuable and precious to us today is the first, orchestral version, rediscovered quite recently (the original manuscript of the score was lost, and copies of the first edition became dispersed).