ReviewThe theme of Jesus' seven last pronouncements on Good Friday has been used by composers over the centuries; probably the best-known is Die sieben letzten Worte unseres Erlösers am Kreuze by Joseph Haydn, in which the final words are delivered in a slow triple time with the major key pointing to the ecstatic release from mortal suffering.
MacMillan's Seven Last Words From The Cross was commissioned by the BBC in 1993 with the seven pieces performed on consecutive days finishing on Good Friday. The sequence begins with a repeated figure which forms the basis for the whole series; it ends with the last words on the Cross, set to traditional Scottish lament music, after which the strings represent the failing breaths with a phrase which slowly grows slower and shorter, working through the keys Dorian on E, G major, and C♯ minor. One music critic describes a performance she attended where the finish of the work was followed not by applause but by silence, with members of the audience and the musicians quietly weeping, until they left in silence.