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Sofiya Asgatovna Gubaydulina

Seven Words

for Cello, Bayan and Strings

Composed: 1982

  1. 1 In croce (version for cello and accordion)
  2. 2 Silenzio: I
  3. 3 Silenzio: II
  4. 4 Silenzio: Iii
  5. 5 Silenzio: IV
  6. 6 Silenzio: V
  7. 7 Vater, vergib ihnen, denn sie wissen nicht, was sie tun (Father, forgive them....)
  8. 8 Weib, siehe, das ist dein Sohn. Siehe, das ist deine Mutter (Woman, behold thy Son. Son, behold....)
  9. 9 Wahrlich, ich sage dir: Heute wirst du mit mir im Paradiese sein (Verily, I say unto thee....)
  10. 10 Mein Gott, mein Gott, warum hast du mich verlassen? (My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?)
  11. 11 Mich durstet (I Thirst)
  12. 12 Es ist vollbracht (It is accomplished)
  13. 13 Vater, ich befehle meinen Geist in deine Hande (Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit)

Sieben Worte (Seven Words), for cello, bayan and strings, was written in 1982 and first performed in Moscow in the same year, with the cellist Vladimir Toncha and accordion-player Friedrich Lips, to whom the work is dedicated. The composer acknowledges her debt to long-standing cultural tradition, to which Heinrich Schütz contributed in his Die sieben Worte unseres lieben Erlösers und Seeligmachers Jesu Christi so er am Stamm des heiligen Creutzes gesprochen (The Seven Last Words of Our Redeemer and Saviour Jesus Christ spoken on the Holy Cross) and to which Haydn also added.
The title In croce is taken not only frorn the basic nature of the work but also refers to its structure. While the instruments at the beginning play either in a high register (bayan) or in low register (cello), in the course of the composition they come closer to each other and cross. When the two melodic lines cross, this forms the climax, an explosion of energy.


The greater part of Silenzio, the composer explains, is to be played pianissimo. She did not have the intention of expressing silence or creating such an impression. Silence is for her the foundation from which something grows. Exact rhythmic proportions are made which appear in all five miniatures in different ways, at times hidden, at times in the form of proportions of note length.