Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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SEVENTH SEVENTH 429
stituting however (as the original parts show)
for the Bishop's voice a long recitative for a
bass in the case of each of the seven 'words.'
In this form the work was performed at Vienna,
March 26, 1787, and was published in parts
by Artaria in the same year—as ' 7 sonate, con
un Introduzione, ed al fine un terremoto '—for
orchestra, op. 47 ; for strings, op. 48 ; for
piano solo, op. 49. It quickly spread to other
countries, was sold to Forster of London in the
summer of the same year for five guineas,
Haydn protesting, and endeavouring to obtain
another five, but with doubtful success ; ^ and
was announced by Longman & Broderip in
the Times of Jan. 1, 1788, as 'A set of
Quartetts . . . expressive of the Passion of
Our Saviour, op. 48, 8s.' Haydn himself
conducted them (whether with the recitatives
or not does not appear) as the middle part of
a concert at the King's Theatre, Haymarket,
May 30, 1791, and repeated the performance
at the benefit of little Clement the violin-player.
The work is now known as a cantata, with
words to each movement. When or by whom
the words were added is not quite clear ; for
the various statements the reader must be
referred to Pohl's Joseph Saydn (ii. 217,
218).2 Pohl's conclusion appears to be that
Haydn >. adapted to his music — perhaps with
Van Swieten's assistance—words which he met
with at Passau on his way to England in 1794,
except those to the Earthquake, which are from
Bammler's 'Tod Jesu.' At the same time he
arranged each of the words ' ' in plain harmony,
and added a movement for wind instruments
only between movements 4 and 5. The Seven
'
Words ' were for long a favourite in Vienna
both in church and concert-room. One of the
last performances was at the Alt-Lerchenfeld
church, when Franz Schubert's brother
Anton ('Father Hermann') delivered the discourses.^
6.
SEVENTH. The intervals which contain
seven notes comprise some of the most important
chords in music, and such as have been
peculiarly conspicuous in musical history. They
are divided mainly into three classes—major
jievenths, minor sevenths, and diminished
sevenths ; as
1. The major sevenths, as OB, FE, GFjf, are
very harsh—in fact the harshest combination
used in modem music except the minor second,
such as BO. They are only endurable either
when prepared and duly resolved, or when
they result from the use of an appoggiatura or
grace-note, or passing note. They occur most
commonly as suspensions, resolving either up
1 Pohl, HaySn in London, p. 92.
2 The Btoj/raphif! Univergelle states categorically that the adaptation
w.ifl hv Michael Haydn.
^ See Pohl'8 Jnaei'h Haydn, ii. 214, 341, etc.
or down, while the rest of the chord is stationary,
as at (a) or (i),
or with the condensed forms of resolution, when
the rest of the chord moves simultaneously with
the motion of the discordant note, as at (c).
Of these major sevenths there are several
forms, but as they all have the same general
principles of formation and treatment they do
not require detailed consideration.
2. The minor sevenths are more individually
characteristic. Of these the most important is
the Dominant seventh, as at (c), for the key of
C. The discordance of this combination is very
slight. By itself it is but little more harsh than
(0) (d) (e) CO to)
some combinations which are universally accepted
as concords, such as the minor sixth ;
but its harshness is increased by the addition
of the other notes which fill up the harmony,
as at {d), since the indispensable major third in
the chord makes a diminished fifth with the
seventh. Nevertheless its mildness has long
been recognised, and it was used as early as
the beginning of the 17th century with greater
freedom than any other
discord, by being relieved
of the condition of being prepared. [See
Harmony, vol. ii. p. 310.] But the laws of
its resolution continued, and still continue,
more or less restricted. It naturally resolves
into the tonic chord ; because its third is the
leading note of the key and tends to the tonic ;
its seventh naturally tends to the third of the
tonic chord, which is in the major divided from
it only by the small interval of a semitone
and its root or bass note already supplies the
fifth of that chord, which naturally acts as the
connecting link between the two haiTnonies of
dominant and tonic ; so that all the vital notes
of the tonic chord are, as it were, predicted by
its sounding, and consequently it is the most
natural and forcible penultimate in cadences,
in which it occurs with exti'eme frequency.
[See Cadence II. ; Harmony.] It is hardly
necessary to point out that it can be resolved
otherwise, since it so often plays a part in
interrupted cadences ;
as for instance where the
tonic chord is supplanted by the chord of the
submediant («) ; but it is in consequence of the
very predisposition which it creates to expect
the tonic chord that interrupted cadences have
such marked effect. [See Cadence III.] There
is no other minor seventh in the key which
can be accompanied by a diatonic major third ;
but there are two at least that can be obtained
with one chromatic note in them, and these
are so frequently used as if they belonged to