Photo: AFP / Manuel Cohen
It was bought with a cake full of gold coins.
This weekend it will get a rare performance in its original orchestral form at St Peter's on Willis, in Wellington.
Franz Joseph Haydn wrote "The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour on the Cross" for a wealthy canon in the Spanish city for Cadiz for a service during Lent in the run-up to Easter.
We assume wealthy, because (the story goes) the canon paid Haydn with a cake which concealed a bunch of gold coins baked within.
Camerata in concert, St Peter's on Willis, Wellington Photo: Max Behle of Behle Photography
It's not the sort of payment the subject of the work, known for throwing money-lenders out of temples, might have approved of. But almost 240 years after its conception, it remains one of the most profound pieces of music inspired by Christ's crucifixion.
Ahead of the concert by the Wellington ensemble Camerata, RNZ Concert host Bryan Crump spoke with the group's Musical Director, Anne Loeser, about the work and its text. The text actually isn't seven words, but the seven statements Christ made on the cross: from "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do", to "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit".
Haydn; turned out to be a piece of cake. Photo: Thomas Hardy, Public Domain
Loeser told Crump about the many different versions of the work, of which the orchestral version she's leading was the first. These days it's most often played by a string quartet.
Loeser also explained how the words are spoken rather than sung (in this weekend's performance it will be by her partner, former New Zealand Symphony Orchestra horn player Greg Hill), and how Hadyn's music reflects the rhythm as well as the meaning of each of Christ's statements.
She also let Crump in on a little secret. German-born Loeser loves baking, and her cakes and other treats are world famous in Wellington classical music circles. Surely Haydn would approve.
And if hearing a Haydn masterpiece in its original form in a beautiful music venue isn't enough, the concert also marks Camerata's tenth birthday.
Who knows? There might be some cake to celebrate.
