Christ on the Cross

This year I was initiated into the Easter spirit in novel and very rewarding circumstances. The venue provided the setting for a unique event which celebrated the restoration project carried out by Recoop on a long neglected but remarkable work of art, best known as the Crucifixion Group, possibly a work of Algardi, which stands in the atrium to the sacristy.

On the occasion of this auspicious event, the Rev. Metropolitan Chapter and the St John's Co-Cathedral Foundation, in collaboration with the Alfred Mizzi Foundation who generously sponsored the restoration project, presented a performance of Haydn's magnificent Seven Last Words for string quartet, performed by the St James Consort made up of Sarah Spiteri, Tatjana Chircop (violins), Antoine Frendo (viola) and Simon Abdilla Joslin (violoncello). A devout catholic, Haydn was commissioned in 1785 to compose orchestral interludes between the spoken parts of the service in the great Spanish baroque church of Cadiz during Holy Week, presumably on Good Friday.

Two years later, when the work was first performed, Haydn transcribed the work for string quartet to give it wider currency and it was in this format that it was performed at St John's.

The St James Consort interpreted the work with a warmth and mellowness of tone which pervaded the whole performance, characterised by a rich texture and lyrical expressiveness. Toni Attard uttered the words of Christ together with relevant quotations from contemporary writings preceding each musical intervention. We were thus led on a spiritual journey accompanying Christ in His death throes by means of an extremely varied harmonic palette which succeeded in expressing the duality of Christ as a Son of God and a Son of Man. The whole glowed with a beatific radiance which reached unfalteringly for the spiritual and the sublime.

The introduction set the tone of passionate intensity and urgency for the entire work and together with the turbulent epilogue depicting the earthquake that followed the death of Jesus, formed a narrative frame for the utterances of Christ. Serenity prevailed in most of the movement heralded by the first of these: "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." Resignation dominated, pierced by a radiant vision of Paradise, following Christ's words: "Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in Paradise." Serene abandon reigned in Christ's words: "Woman behold thy son", but disorientation and vulnerability found their parallel in the music and were most evident in: "My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me." "I thirst" heralded a very beautiful section reminding us of the humanity of Christ. A sublime melody accompanied: "It is finished", while we were made to feel almost tangibly the tremendous cost of the separation of the human and divine in the principal motive accompanying: "Father, in thy hands I commend my spirit." It was just as though Haydn was speaking these words from the very depths of his being when one considers that after he had directed a performance of the work on December 26, 1803, he retreated from the world, henceforth deteriorating physically very fast.

At the end of the performance, Mgr Philip Calleja blessed the Crucifixion Group and all those present in a short ceremony, a fitting end to a noble enterprise.