The Octagon Chapel, Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BN

In the approach to Easter, The Bach Players perform Joseph Haydn’s Seven Last Words in the version for string quartet. Haydn’s composition was extraordinarily popular in his own time; following the original composition for full orchestra, he wrote the chamber version and then another for orchestra and choir. Charles Burney, who heard an early performance of the version for string quartet, wrote in 1791 that it was ‘perhaps, the most sublime composition without words to point out its meaning that has ever been composed’. The concert will be played without an interval.

The music

Joseph Haydn (1732–1809): The Seven Last Words of our Saviour on the Cross (Hob. XX/1B)

The musicians

Nicolette Moonen violin, Oliver Webber violin, Rachel Stott viola, Kinga Gáborjáni cello