Rosebud presents Haydn’s The Seven Last Words of Christ

By Laureen F. Guenther Times Contributor

Joseph Haydn’s The Seven Last Words of Christ will be performed in Rosebud’s Akokiniskway Gallery, March 10, with narration written and performed by Morris Ertman.
Ertman, Rosebud Theatre’s artistic director, performed his narration with musicians in Toronto after he wrote it a few years ago.
“The music is deeply impactful, and the combination of music and story wound up being something that people responded to,” he said.
“So we’ve wanted to do it here (in Rosebud), and this is the first time that we’ve able to find a week when we can be together. There are some pretty great musicians coming in from out east.”
Keith Hamm, principal violist of the Canadian Opera Company orchestra and artistic director of Rosebud Chamber Music Festival, will perform on viola. Cellist Julie Hereish, who performed in Rosebud Theatre’s Spitfire Grill in 2017, and award-winning violinists Sheila Jaffe and Elizabeth Skinner, complete the string quartet.
“Just to be in the room with those players, these phenomenal musicians who are pulling out this incredibly dramatic and moving and emotional music,” Ertman said. “To be in the presence of these musicians is just a phenomenal treat.”
Haydn’s composition includes a movement for each of the seven phrases Jesus Christ spoke during his crucifixion. Ertman’s narration reflects on the event from a child’s point of view.
“I wrote a story that takes us right to the crucifixion through the point of view of a young kid who follows his dog, who’s sniffing his way up the trail towards Golgotha,” he says. “So it’s really seen through the point of view of a completely innocent bystander, and who witnesses the seven last words of Jesus … when the clouds were gathering for a great storm that was going to happen, and the veil of the temple ripped in two.
“I’ve spun a story that puts the fantastical along with the gritty point of view of a kid,” Ertman added. “(It’s) fictional based on what one can know about the seven last words of Jesus. This then becomes the story of what it might have been.”
The music and story of The Seven Last Words of Christ focus on arguably the most significant self-sacrifice in human history. “It is the moment when love incarnate was made sacrificial for all of humankind. Love entered the world and we brutally snuffed it out. Hayden’s music captures the pathos of that sacrifice. The story I share helps take us to the humanity of the moment. For those observing the Lenten Season, the performance will help focus their heart, mind and imagination on what is to come.”
Ertman and the quartet will perform The Seven Last Words of Christ in three venues, March 9-11. They’ll perform at Prairie College’s Maxwell Atrium in Three Hills, 7:30 pm on Friday, March 9. Tickets are $20 at the door. They’ll perform Sunday morning, March 11, at Calgary’s Lutheran Church of our Saviour.
On Saturday, March 10, they’ll perform in Rosebud’s Akokiniskway Gallery at 4:30 pm and 8 pm. Tickets are $20. Seating is limited. Email rosebudchambermusic@gmail.com to reserve.