Musical settings of The Seven Last Words of Christ

The Seven Last Words of Christ refers to the seven short phrases uttered by Jesus on the cross, as gathered from the four Christian Gospels. The Crucifixion of Jesus has served as inspiration to a great many visual artists and composers over the centuries. In particular, at least 16 composers have written musical settings of the Seven Last Words, for various combinations of voice and/or instruments.^[1]

The best known of these settings is probably the instrumental setting by Joseph Haydn.

Chronological list of settings

Early Latin motet settings of the ultima septem verba can be found from 1500.^[2]^[3]

Heinrich Schütz: Die sieben Worte Jesu Christi am Kreuz, SWV 478 (1645), German cantata
Augustin Pfleger: Passio, sive Septem Verba Christi in cruce pendentis (c. 1670)

Pergolesi: Septem verba a Christo in cruce moriente prolata (attributed, 1730–1736)
Christoph Graupner: Die sieben Worte des Heilands am Kreuz cantata cycle, Darmstadt (1743)
Joseph Haydn: The Seven Last Words of Christ (1787)
Francisco Javier García Fajer: Septem ultima verba christi in cruce (1787), Latin oratorio
Giuseppe Giordani alias "Giordaniello": Tre ore dell'Agonia di N.S. Gesù Cristo (1790), oratorio^[4]

Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli: Tre ore dell'Agonia (1825), oratorio^[5]
Saverio Mercadante: Le sette ultime parole di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo (1838), oratorio
Charles Gounod: Les Sept Paroles de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ sur la Croix (1855), choral work
César Franck: Les Sept Paroles du Christ sur la Croix (1859), choral work
Théodore Dubois: Les sept paroles du Christ (1867), choral work
Fernand de La Tombelle: Les sept Paroles de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ

Charles Tournemire: Sept Chorals-Poèmes pour les sept Paroles du Christ for organ (1935)
Knut Nystedt: "Jesu syv ord på korset", Op. 47, oratorium for solo and mixed choir The Seven Words from the Cross (1960).^[6]
Alan Ridout: The Seven Last Words for organ (1965)
"The Crucifixion" from Jesus Christ Superstar (1969), by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber
Douglas Allanbrook The Seven Last Words for mezzo-soprano, baritone, chorus and orchestra (1970)
Sofia Gubaidulina Sieben Worte for cello, bayan, and strings (1982)
James MacMillan: Seven Last Words from the Cross, cantata for choir and strings (1993)
Ruth Zechlin: Die sieben letzten Worte Jesu am Kreuz for organ (1996)

Tristan Murail: Les Sept Paroles for orchestra, chorus and electronics (2010)
Daan Manneke: The Seven Last Words Oratorio for chamber choir (2011)
Paul Carr: Seven Last Words from the Cross for soloist, choir and orchestra (2013)^[7]
Michael John Trotta: Seven Last Words (Septem Ultima Verba) for choir and orchestra (2017)^[8]

↑ Church Music – 1973 – Page 10 "Eventually these settings of the Seven Words became a separate form of Passion music. Perhaps the most outstanding work in this genre in the Lutheran tradition is the work of Heinrich Schütz. A number of composers in the first generations ..."
↑ Literature, Music, Fine Arts – 22–24 1989 pp. 189–190 "Langrock, Klaus. Die sieben Worte Jesu am Kreuz. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Passionsmusik (Ph.D., Musicology, Bochum, 1987) ...The present book, a dissertation of the University of Bochum, deals with settings of the Seven Words on the Cross, which are ... France and Italy since 1500, published or unpublished, which are based on the text of all the Words on the Cross."
↑ Raymond Dittrich, Die sieben letzten Worte Jesu in der Musik (2001)
↑ Tre ore dell'Agonia di N.S. Gesù Cristo on YouTube
↑ Tre ore dell'Agonia on YouTube
↑ Knut Nystedts choral music
↑ Seven Last Words from the Cross by Paul Carr
↑ https://www.mjtrotta.com/seven-last-words-for-choir-and-orchestra/

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