1796 – The Music part 3 - Ten Years After, Not quite dead

Hob. No.	Genre	Libretto	Name	Instruments/Voices
20:02	Oratorio	Words arranged by Gottfried van Swieten	The Seven Last Words of Christ from the Cross	S-A-T-B, Chorus, 2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets, 2 Bassoons, Contrabassoon, 2 Horns, 2 Trumpets, 2 Trombones, Timpani & Strings

The Crucifixion
Hieronymus Bosch ca 1485

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At the very end of the last essay, while I was already whingeing over the passing of certain genres which Haydn is known for, the list I made then was only a small (but very significant) part of the entire. I had also noted the same phenomenon with concertos, but in mentally running down a list of possibilities, things which we have come to expect, in addition to keyboard sonatas and trios, symphonies, concertos etc., we can add these blasts from the past: divertimentos for various numbers of winds and/or strings, flute trios, and string trios and duos. Of course, the unusual instruments, such as Baryton, Lira organizzate and Flötenuhr are long gone. The obvious commonality on this list is they are all instrumental genres. Almost the only vocal genre which could be added to the missing is Italian operas, although I don't know that he wouldn't have tackled yet another of them if a commission and decent libretto had come along. Conspicuous by its absence from the list, thankfully, is the string quartet. Plus one more set of variations for keyboard. But beyond those, we must change our inherited mindset about Haydn from 'instrumental composer' to 'vocal generalist'. Which I call him because the variety of vocal music he tackled, partly represented in our next couple of essays, was nearly the full spectrum at the end of the 18^th century.

When Haydn was returning home from England after his final sojourn there, we saw this particular event:

We learn from Haydn's future student, Neukomm (whom we will meet many times later) that one of the places they stopped for the night was the town of Passau. In his honor, on the evening they spent, the local Kapellmeister, Joseph Friebert, arranged a performance in the Cathedral of Passau of The Seven Last Words, to which Friebert had added some choral parts and recitatives. Haydn told Neukomm that 'The performance was satisfactory, but the vocal parts, I could have done better'.

It didn't take long for him to have a chance to prove these words. And indeed he did!

… It was only many years later that a canon in Passau [Joseph Friberth] fitted a German text to Haydn's music, and so Swieten's contention that an analogous poem could be written to go with each of Haydn's compositions was literally confirmed.                         Griesinger Biographical Notices pg. 21-22

We have already met Gottfried, Baron van Swieten. His various ambassadorial positions, and later the Imperial Librarian, a post he held for the rest of his life, may seem tangential to a discussion of Viennese music. In fact, they provided the opportunities for his exposure to, and then the material for teaching and disseminating, his love for Baroque polyphony to the greats of the First Viennese School. Much has been made of Mozart's "Sunday's with Gottfried", but Haydn also spent time in that venue whenever it worked with his schedule. He had been associating with Swieten since before 1776, as we can infer from this quote in his famous autobiographical letter. The subject was the constant harsh criticism he got from the Berliners:

Despite this, they try very hard to get all my works, as Herr Baron von Swieten, the Imperial and Royal ambassador to Berlin, told me only last winter when he was in Vienna…

This was an important bit of encouragement at a critical time for Haydn, and certainly must have helped cement his faith in Swieten. Which he clearly had in abundance, since post-London, he redirected his career trajectory so a large part was focused on their work together.

Swieten was pompous in his dealings with musicians. He was acutely aware of his own minor aristocratic status, but he could also be generous and loyal. Remember, on Haydn's second trip to London, he went from Vienna to the coast in a comfortable carriage given him by Swieten. He had nothing but respect for the works of his musical 'friends', but they weren't friends per se since they were commoners. Still, their influence on the later development of western classical music would have been very different without him, because he was mainly responsible for bringing the works of 'Old Bach' and Handel to their attention and encouraging them to integrate it into their own musical styles. He composed more than a little, as Griesinger again tells us, along with Haydn's opinion of them:

… Swieten himself had composed eight symphonies— "they were as stiff as he was"

Looking back now, with our historical perspective supplemented by ensuing events, we know that this collaboration would produce two major oratorios which would seal Haydn's claim on musical immortality more than any of his instrumental works. The Creation and The Seasons would certainly not have been what they ended up being without the input of Baron van Swieten. But it was not their first joint venture, and a proper introduction to those works cannot fail to include this one, which is actually some of my personal favorite Haydn music.

In 1786, we took a look at the commission from Cádiz, Spain, for an instrumental work which would be played on Good Friday during the Passion. It is fair to say Haydn outdid himself with this work, which is brilliant in every way. But beyond satisfying the terms of the commission, it didn't really achieve widespread recognition, perhaps because it was so specialized. The next year, he adapted the work for solo keyboard and arranged it for string quartet, and now that it was playable by smaller groups and individuals, it did, indeed, begin to spread across Europe. With both of those arrangements, though, much of the impact of the music lost its effect, even though the string quartet version was the most popular for many years.

When Haydn was returning from England and saw the choral performance in the Passau Cathedral, some bit of inspiration must have struck, something which would save this work from oblivion. It is safe to say, just because a piece is brilliant, doesn't mean it will be everlasting. This is especially true of music, since the appeal of many works is so limited. But the addition of words, which Haydn had seen in action so recently in London, could perhaps broaden the appeal beyond the one day a year for the many, or the rare performances for connoisseurs which it had now.

"The Death of Jesus"
A Passion Cantata by C.W. Ramler
with music by Carl Heinrich Graun

The text itself comes (via Friberth in Passau) in part from prayers for the day, some odes by Christian Gellert, a hugely popular poet who wrote many poems which were destined to become hymns for both Catholics and Protestants (and was also a lifetime favorite of Beethoven), and from C. W. Ramler's cantata, Der Tod Jesu (The Death of Jesus), which had been set many years earlier by Carl Heinrich Graun, and achieved some popularity. All of this was carefully massaged by Swieten, and then Haydn went to work to carefully tailor the music to the words.

Much of the instrumental music remains unchanged insofar as the notes and rhythms go. There are, however many changes which are more subtle, but obvious if one compares them side-by-side.

Original Version Instruments	Oratorio Instruments
2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, 2 Bassoons, 4 Horns, 2 Trumpets, Timpani & Strings	2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets, 2 Bassoons, Contrabassoon, 2 Horns, 2 Trumpets, 2 Trombones, Timpani & Strings

So first things first, parts needed to be changed, revised and adapted to the different instruments before anything else could be done. Clarinets! Trombones! A contrabassoon! Haydn surely expanded his language while in London.

Other than the instrumentation requirements, Haydn made two other, even more major changes. We saw in the original how the Seven Last Phrases (if I may) were intoned by the celebrant at the beginning of each sonata. This was the essential concept of the work. But oratorios, as we saw way back when Haydn wrote his first one, Il ritorno di Tobia, are, by definition, NOT music played during masses or other official services, although they are often performed in a church. Since there was no longer an officiating priest, Haydn had to come up with a way to present the phrase. His solution was an a capella chant, a sort of old-style four-voice recitative which was both beautiful and effective. The second major change he made involved the beginning of Sonata N^o. 5. With it's tiny phrase, I thirst, it needed something more to bolster the introduction. Another problem which had to be solved involved the basic oratorio structure. It needed an intermission. This is a structural requirement, and though Haydn loved flouting convention when it came to harmonic or rhythmic schemes, or Affekt, he didn't play fast and loose with established rules of structure. Whether it was the coincidence of placement within the overall work, with an introduction and four sonatas before and three sonatas and The Earthquake after, the beginning of Sonata N^o. 5 is also as near as one can get to the midpoint of the work. So, a little break is now followed by one of the finest introductions in Haydn's oeuvre. The austere, nearly funereal sounding piece is for wind band only. It is about five and a half minutes long, and it is given great gravitas by the contrabassoon (Haydn's first use of one) and the trombones. As we have seen, trombones were a tradition in Austrian Church music (to the exclusion of nearly any other use) for the last few centuries, and there would have been no missing their significance here. To top things off, this is the only Haydn work which he wrote in a minor, and perhaps the somberness helps give an explanation why this might be. There is no hint of the underlying joy that we have grown accustomed to in nearly all of Haydn's works. For all that, a current critic (for the Leipzig Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung), stated that this introduction was "some of the best music Haydn has ever written".

Part	Phrase (Word) & Source	Key	Tempo
Introduction to Part 1		d minor	Maestoso ed Adagio
Sonata I	Pater, dimitte illis, quia nesciunt, quid faciunt Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do Luke 23: 33-34	Bb Major	Largo
Sonata II	Hodie mecum eris in paradise Today you will be with me in Paradise Luke 23: 39-43	c minor ending in C Major	Grave e cantabile
Sonata III	Mulier, ecce filius tuus! Woman, behold your son! John 19: 25-27	E Major	Grave
Sonata IV	Deus meus, Deus meus, utquid dereliquisti me? My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Matthew 27: 45-47	f minor	Largo
Introduction to Part 2		a minor	Largo e cantabile
Sonata V	Sitio I thirst John 19: 28	A Major	Adagio
Sonata VI	Consummatum est It is finished John 19: 29-30	g minor ending in G Major	Lento
Sonata VII	In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum Father, into your hands I commend my spirit Luke 23: 44-46	Eb Major	Largo
Postlude	Il terremoto The Earthquake	c minor	Presto e con tutta la forza

The Gesellschaft der Associierten was an association of music-loving noblemen centered in Vienna and founded by Swieten in 1786. They sponsored concerts, often reviving music from the past, and also commissioned new works. Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven all benefitted hugely from their relationship with these men. I'm sure many of the names are familiar:

… and Swieten was the life secretary of a musical society in Vienna whose members (the Princes Lichtenstein, Esterhazy, Schwarzenberg, Lobkowitz, Auersberg, Kinsky, Lichnowsky, Trautmannsdorf, Sinzendorf [sic], the Counts Czernin, Harrach, Erdody, Aponi [sic], Fries) were accustomed to arrange several concerts a year.

Griesinger 1810 (Gotwals) Biographical Notes Concerning Joseph Haydn

This oratorio was first performed on 26 March 1796, in a private affair at the palace of Prince Schwarzenberg. It wasn't until 1 April 1798 that the public were allowed to hear what these connoisseurs already knew. The Emperor and his family were all at the Burgtheater for the première. Evidently it gained approval, since it was performed regularly throughout German-speaking lands for the next century. I think Landon's contention that it could only be appreciated by connoisseurs and so was ultimately a failure (sorry, that's the only way I can interpret his comments) effectively glosses over the clear fact that musical appreciation by connoisseurs is not the only possible way for a work to succeed, not only in popularity (whatever that might entail) but also when it engenders appreciation for its sheer beauty and relevance to the event which it defines. And this by connoisseur and layman alike. And there is absolutely no doubt it accomplishes that!

Since you already know the effects produced by this magnificent music while it is still only played on instruments, you must believe me when I tell you that with words the music is even more powerful and expressive. I tell you this so as to make your musical soul doubly regret the fact that you were not able to be there…

Anonymous letter writer, 1802

Did Haydn's effort to rescue The Seven Last Words from sure oblivion succeed? I suppose the fact that I can sit here and recommend three different recordings of the oratorio, and in fact, I could easily do so with each of the other three versions, would argue for the answer to be yes. Is it the finest or best or most popular work Haydn ever wrote? Haydn thought it was his finest work, as we see in the little article I reprinted from the Harmonicon (Magazine), volume VIII, 1830, page 29:

[Abbé Stadler, ... (The 7 Last Words)] …

The "Mr. N." is Vincent Novello, who traveled to Vienna in the late 1820's with his wife, Mary to amass material for a book about the famous composers of the late 18^th century while their contemporaries were still alive to reminisce. The resulting book, A Mozart Pilgrimage, Being the Travel Diaries of Vincent and Mary Novello in the Year 1829, is a fount of information, much of it accurate.The other noticeable item here is the fact that it was "made to order". This could well be something I am unaware of in the modern world, but if so, I must apologize to you, dear reader. Do you, or does anyone in the 21^st century, rate works automatically into a secondary position because they were commissioned? Something tells me the answer would be no to that. A modern equivalent would be an orchestra asking a composer to write them a symphony, or a violinist a new concerto. Yet, in 1830, there doesn't appear to be any reluctance to call a work second-tier for that reason. If you recall, long ago I had a mild rant over this exact topic. James Webster was explaining this tenet of 19th century belief:

 "...unique synthesis of form and content, necessity and independence. This ideal demands the artwork be complete and intelligible in its own terms, that it exclude everything superfluous and contingent, that it be incapable of alteration without violating its essence and that it stake a claim to the realms of spirituality as opposed to materiality, transcendence as opposed to quotidian reality. Analogously, it demands that the artist create solely according to his muse, and not for 'eternal' reasons. Hence, to be great, an artwork must be psychologically and historically 'authentic': fully and in all details an autonomous expression of its maker's personality, yet reflecting the social-philosophical reality of its time and place of origin."

After I published that essay I had several debates with friends about it. Yet here, in an actual extract from an 1830 musical journal, is an undisguised statement of precisely the same belief. I have a sneaking suspicion that not every musicologist, even today, has fully rid him or her self of it, either. I wonder if the writer thought that any of Haydn's symphonies were NOT "written to order"?

For me, the issue can never be resolved, it is a matter of taste and no one's reigns supreme. But if I were to compile a 'Haydn Top 10' of my own favorites, The 7 Last Words would be on it, with either one of or both the instrumental or choral versions.

Next time, more vocal music, some of a different stripe altogether.

Thanks for reading!

I am reprinting here the entire libretto, something I have long wished to have since I am a dunce with German. The 7 Words themselves are still always sung in Latin, but the hymns have been translated into many languages. Here they are in English.

1 Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Father in Heaven. Look down from thy eternal throne! Loving Father, thy only begotten Son Prays for sinners, for thy children. Grant the prayer of thy Son! Alas. we have fallen from grace. We have grievously sinned; But for us all and for our salvation Thy Son has shed his blood The blood of the Lamb does not cry out for vengeance; It redeems our sins. Loving Father, let us find grace. Grant the prayer of thy Son.	2 Verily, I say unto thee: Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise, Full of mercy, grace and love, Thou art the mediator, the Lamb of God. If he but calls to thee, full of Remorse: When thou enterest into thy Kingdom, alas, think of me: To him thou didst promise, full of pity: Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise. Lord God: Look upon us! See at the foot of thy Cross Our true remorse and repentance! Oh Father, see our remorse! Grant us in our final hour That consolation from thy lips: Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise.
3 Woman, behold thy son, and Thou, behold thy mother! Mother of Jesus, weeping in Despair. Standing sighing by the Cross. And in the hour of bitter parting, The torments of his suffering Thou didst feel in sevenfold Measure. Barely conscious in thy anguish, Yet ever steadfast and composed. Thou didst take as thy son thy faithful disciple And didst take all of us as thy children, Mother of Jesus, refuge of all Sinners. Hear the entreaty of all sinners. Be with us in our final throes. Mother full of tenderness Be our succor! When with death we struggle And the sighs of our fearful hearts rise aloft to thee. Let us not, Mother, let us not Succumb! Help us to overcome the enemy. Be with us in our final throes! When at last with death we struggle Show us that thou art our Mother And, oh Mother, Intercede for us with thy Son.	4 My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? Who can see God's work in this? Who can grasp this mystery? Oh, God of strength and might, Oh, God of might and power. We are the works of thy hand. And thy love, oh Lord, has redeemed us. Oh Lord, we thank thee from hearts. For our sakes thou didst suffer pain, Mockery, abandonment, fear and torment. Who could fail to love thee, Lord. Who could sadden thee with sin? Who could deny thy grace? No, nothing shall part us from Thee. Here and in eternity.
5 Jesus saith; Alas, I thirst! Curb your vengeance, calm your anger! Men, let pity soften you, Summon mercy to your hearts. Jesus saith: Alas, I thirst! They give him wine to drink mingled with gall, That is how they refresh him. Can cruelty be harsher? He can no longer endure the pain that was relief:   Alas, he thirsts before his end And they offer him gall!	6 It is finished! Nailed to the tree of sacrifice. Jesus hangs throughout the night; Then he loudly cries: It is finished! The harm done to us by that tree is redeemed by this. Woe to your evil ones, Woe to you who are blind. Woe to you all, to all of you! Who piles sins upon one another! World, consider! will you find mercy, When he comes in his majesty and power?
7 Save us, our mediator, from damnation! Hear our cries, God made man! Let not my suffering and death Be for naught because of us, Let us some day inherit Heaven And eternally rejoice with thee.   Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit Into thy hands, oh Lord, I commend my spirit. Now his sufferings can increase no more. Now he triumphs loudly and says: Father, take my soul, To thee l commend my spirit. And when he bows his head and dies. From everlasting damnation His blood has redeemed us. For his love for all mankind, for his love He died sinner's death. Thou gavest us new life; What can we give to thee? At thy feet, oh Jesus, Deeply moved we lie: Accept our hearts in sacrifice! Into thy hands, Oh Lord, I commend my spirit.	The Earthquake He has departed. The depths of the earth resound: He has departed. Tremble, Golgotha, tremble! He died upon your summit Oh, sun, be gone And light this day no more! Be rent, land, on which the murderers stand. Graves, open up, Fathers, rise up into the light! The earth which covers you Is all stained with blood.