HAYDN: SEVEN LAST WORDS of CHRIST: An evening of Music and Word.

Haydn’s Seven Last Words of Christ, is one of the composer’s most profound works.

In this performance by string quartet, Haydn's music evoking the last hours of Christ’s life, will be punctuated with readings of the Seven Last Words and reflections on them read by Joseph Kuipers.

I Introduction

II.. "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

III. "Today you will be with me in paradise."

IV. "Woman, behold your son! Son, behold your mother!"

V. "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

VI. "I thirst."

VII. "It is finished."

VIII "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit."

"Il Terremoto," ( earthquake)

The Seven Last Words comprises an introduction, seven slow movements corresponding to the seven words, and a musical depiction of the earthquake following the crucifixion. It exists in several versions: for orchestra, for orchestra and chorus, and for string quartet by Haydn, as well as a reduction for piano which was approved by the composer. Of these, the arrangement for string quartet has a particular purity and intimacy in which the flexibility and subtlety of the string instruments’ sound serves to enhance the vulnerability of the expression. It is a dark and deeply moving work inspiring searching contemplation. Mostly homophonic, with melodic lines supported by simple accompanying figures, the piece explores and reveals within this elemental texture the emotional resonances inherent in the story of the crucifixion. The music is often stark, barren and painful, but always overwhelmingly human. Strength and frailty, grief and acceptance, bewilderment and understanding are all expressed with the greatest economy of means and intensity of gesture. The work serves as a meditation on the gravity of tragedy, as well as on the possibilities of hope and redemption. It is music of great weight as well as great transparency, coupling profound directness of affect with ennobling humility.

In striving to create a performance which was suits our feelings about the work, we decided to commission reflections to be read before each of the slow movements, one for each of the Words. Our hope was to find an author whose work shared certain important aesthetic qualities inherent in the Haydn. The reflections were to be imagined from the perspective of people who lived with and knew Jesus personally, and drawn on the universal human qualities evident in the story of the crucifixion and in the music. There needed to be a sense of penetrating insight and of deep feeling, setting up a dialogue between word and music. The writing of Kolby Kerr shares with the Haydn a surface of relative simplicity betraying underneath a piercing understanding of the human spirit. His is poetry which is quite musical in its cadence, lending itself to well to being read aloud.. There is a complete lack of pretense in his poetry, which has the sincerity so immediately apparent in the Haydn. Kolby Kerr is a beautiful and wise artist, and it has been an immense privilege to collaborate with him and to feel part of the genesis of a rich and affecting set of poems.

The composite work comprising Haydn’s music and Kolby Kerr's forms an integrated artistic whole, with word and music symbiotically entwined.

On a personal note, this is quite possibly my most beloved piece of music, and to be involved in bringing it to life in the present moment is always both revelatory and humbling. There is no better confirmation of the great privilege and joy of being a musician.

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