Sept Dernières Paroles du Christ

Description

With "The Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross" by Joseph Haydn, here is one of the most representative musical works of the "Age of Enlightenment." More than two hundred years separate us from this era, and yet its spiritual message and expressive potential retain all their validity and suggestive power. The wonderful Light that emanates from each of these pages has remained intact, thanks to the creative genius, inner richness, and capacity for poetic-musical symbolism of the master of Esterházy. These seven slow movements—eight if we count the Introduzione—crafted with such a variety of resources in musical invention, rhythms, dynamics, tonalities, theme selection, and this exceptional sound and expressive painting, completely make us lose track of the succession of pieces that appear very similar in aspect and dimension. But it is especially important to highlight the essential factor that gives this cycle its particular value: the expressive climate that remains constantly of an intensity and fervor that is supremely moving. Haydn understood it this way when he explained his idea to us: "Each Sonata, or each text, is expressed solely by the means of instrumental music in such a way that it will necessarily awaken the deepest impression in the soul of the least discerning listener" (letter of April 8, 1787, to his London publisher Forster).