The Edinburgh Quartet: Haydn’s ‘Seven Last Words of Christ’

Stockbridge Parish Church - 07/04/23 

A masterly rendition of Haydn’s ‘Seven Last Words of Christ’.

The Edinburgh Quartet chose a rather unusual time on Good Friday for this performance: 6pm which may account for the rather sparse audience of around 60 who looked a little thin in the colourful surroundings of Stockbridge Parish Church. This was a pity as those absent missed an excellent concert. The Edinburgh Quartet which is now more than 50 years old has had some variable membership in recent years with long established cellist Mark Bailey and viola player Catherine Marwood the longest serving members. Today we had Nicolas DuPont as leader and Gongbo Jiang as second violin; they were both excellent and importantly were in perfect harmony with the older members. The Quartet had performed the work in Haddington two nights before and were clearly well practised.

Haydn composed the Seven Last Words as a commission for an Oratory in Cadiz in 1786 for the Good Friday service, but adapted it for a string quartet a year later and finally as an oratorio in 1796.The Seven sections are attributed to seven expressions by Jesus during his crucifixion. It has become a tradition to complement the music with poetry in between the movements often from famous poets. Tonight the poems were provided by local poet Jennifer Rawson reading from her own works with themes related to the music.

I had heard the work before as an oratorio but this was my first time listening to it in a string quartet version, and although a very different experience the music and the superb playing of the quartet kept me interested throughout. I’m not sure the poetry enhanced the experience much, maybe having the text in front of us would have helped. However the music was gripping and passionate from the first sonata: “Father forgive them they know not what they do” to the explosive ending of sonata 7: “Father into thy hands I commend my spirit”. The music depicted an earthquake after Jesus’s execution and certainly produced a wow from this front row spectator! After the Mathew Passion from the Dunedin the evening before this Easter has made me grateful for the music the events produced, even if I remain a sceptic!