Haydn: Die sieben letzten Worte unseres Erlösers am Kreuze

Featuring

Girolamo Bottiglieri
Raya Raytcheva
Blythe Teh Engstroem
François Grin
Quatuor Terpsycordes
Joseph Haydn

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Composer's Artistic Vision

Haydn intended the instrumental music for each sonata to make a profound impression on the soul of every listener, regardless of their background.

Compositional Technique

The work concludes with a sudden "Terremoto" (earthquake) movement, a Presto e con tutta la forza, which abruptly breaks the meditative state induced by the preceding slow movements.

Interpretation

The instruments used by Quatuor Terpsycordes for this recording are set up for historical performance with gut strings and tuned to A=422 Hz, and they use "classical" bows inspired by late 18th-century English makers.

Composition History

Joseph Haydn's "The Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross" was originally commissioned by a canon from Cadiz for an annual Lenten oratorio performance in the Cadiz Cathedral.

Composition History

Haydn's work was designed to accompany a unique Good Friday service where an officiating bishop would comment on each of the seven 'Words,' with music filling the intervals.

Compositional Technique

A significant challenge for Haydn in composing this work was to create seven successive adagios, each lasting about ten minutes, without tiring the listener.

Instruments

For this recording, the Quatuor Terpsycordes performs on instruments from the Vuillaume studio of luthiers, including copies of a Guarnerius del Gesù and the Stradivarius Messiah.