Good Words on a Good Friday

Mar 30, 2018 by

by Christopher Morrissey, The Imaginative Conservative:

Holy Week is an especially fruitful time for prayerful meditation. There are many liturgical events at which one may engage in the practice. In my neck of the woods, there are also many public concerts that offer musical compositions appropriate to the season.

One of my favorites is Haydn’s The Seven Last Words of Our Savior on the Cross, which I always find to be an extraordinary and moving experience whenever I get the chance to hear it live. It is very powerful in the version Haydn adapted for string quartet, which I find to be absolutely perfect music for meditative reflections. This year I will again be seeking it out wherever I can find it being played on Good Friday. Haydn is reported to have considered this piece his greatest achievement, and I concur.

I find it interesting to reflect on the “Seven Last Words” because the Gospels give varying accounts of Christ’s death on the cross. Viewed as a whole, however, the Gospel testimony may be woven together into a musical synthesis providing a single narrative:

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