Haydn's 'Seven Last Words' as an Easter offering

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Monday, March 26, 2018

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Photo: Rory Earnshaw

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The Alexander String Quartet will perform at Grace Cathedral.

The Alexander String Quartet will perform at Grace Cathedral.

Photo: Rory Earnshaw

Haydn’s ‘Seven Last Words’ as an Easter offering

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Haydn’s “Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross” is such a musical staple of Good Friday performance that it’s easy to lose sight of what a strange and original creation it is. There’s nothing obviously like it in the standard repertoire.

Composed in 1786, the score consists of a series of seven self-contained slow movements, framed by an introduction and a final quick movement representing the earthquake mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew. In between these movements, a speaker recites excerpts from the Passion story.

Haydn originally wrote the piece for orchestra, but arranged it a year later for string quartet. That’s the version most commonly encountered nowadays, and the one that will be performed at Grace Cathedral on Friday, March 30, by the Alexander String Quartet, with Dean Emeritus Alan Jones as the speaker.

— Joshua Kosman

Alexander String Quartet: 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 30. $20 donation. Grace Cathedral, 1100 California St., S.F. (415) 749-6300. www.gracecathedral.org

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Labels: Last Words

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