Later the opportunity of adding them was offered, so the oratorio which Breitkopf and Haertel publish to-day is a complete work and, so far as the vocal part is concerned, entirely new.
The kind reception which it has received among amateurs makes me hope that the entire public will welcome it with the same kindness.
Haydn feared to weary his hearers.

Our modern bards have no such vain scruple.
Michel Haydn, Joseph's brother and the author of some highly esteemed religious compositions, has been generally credited with the addition of the vocal parts to the _Seven Words_.

Joseph Haydn did not say that this was the case, but it would seem that if he did the work himself he would have said so in his preface.
This vocal part, however, adds nothing to the value of the work.

And it is of no great consequence who the author of the arrangement for the quartet was.

At the time there were many amateurs who played on stringed instruments.