Originally composed in 1786 as a work for orchestra, Haydn's piece inspired by the Seven Last Words of Christ was recast as a string quartet the next year and published as his Op.51. On his way to London in 1794, Haydn heard an adaptation of his orchestral work for chorus with orchestra made by the Passau kapellmeister Joseph Friebert with German text based upon the original Latin seven words. Impressed, Haydn decided to make his own choral version, with a revised German text by Gottfried van Swieten. The new cantata version was premiered before an invited audience in Vienna on March 17, 1796 and first performed before the public over two years later (April 1, 1798). The vocal score reissued here is an authoritative one originally published in early years of the 20th century by C.F. Peters of Leipzig. Unlike so many of the on-demand scores now available, this one comes with all the pages and the images have been thoroughly checked to make sure it is readable. IMSLP page Wikipedia article