Franz Joseph Haydn (1732 – 1809) witnessed many radical changes during the course of his long life. He was eighteen when Bach died in 1750, and seventy-two when Beethoven’s epoch-making ‘Eroica’ Symphony was first performed in 1804. Throughout this period he was a pioneering figure, exploiting the untapped potential of the symphony, sonata and string quartet and developing them to a hitherto unimagined degree. Mozart said, ‘Haydn alone has the secret both of making me smile and of touching my innermost soul’. The supreme choral masterpieces of Haydn’s old age – The Creation, The Seasons and the six last great masses – were all written during the final fifteen years of his life, after he had completed the last of his 104 symphonies.
It was Handel who resurrected the oratorio, transforming it from little more than an extended cantata into a powerful choral music-drama that was soon to dominate public music-making in eighteenth and nineteenth century England. Handel’s succession of masterpieces inspired many later composers, notably Haydn and Mendelssohn. During his first visit to London, Haydn attended one of the great Handel festivals held in Westminster Abbey and was completely overwhelmed by the experience. “Handel is the master of us all!” he observed, and resolved to write an oratorio himself that would be worthy of Handel’s supreme examples. After his second London visit he brought back to Vienna a libretto in English on the subject of the creation of the world, which had been compiled many years earlier for Handel but never used. The unknown author’s sources were the Bible and Milton’s Paradise Lost. A translation was made by Baron Gottfried van Swieten, Librarian of the Imperial Court in Vienna, and it was this German version which Haydn used when composing The Creation. Because of his own extensive cuts & revisions, and the fact that Haydn’s music followed the stresses and nuances of his German version, Van Swieten couldn’t simply use the original libretto, but had to translate his own German text back into English. His grasp of our language was limited, hence this re-translation was often very clumsy. In 1798, after two years – the longest period of time he spent on any composition – Haydn finished the work. It received its first public performance in 1799 and was immediately recognised as a supreme masterpiece, receiving many performances all over Europe.
In common with opera, and like most oratorios – though not Messiah – The Creation has named characters and is divided into acts and scenes. These consist of sequences of choruses, recitatives and arias. The work begins with an extended orchestral introduction. Parts One and Two then describe the six days of creation, each of which follows a threefold pattern comprising biblical narrative, descriptive central section and hymn of praise. The three soloists represent the archangels Gabriel (soprano), Uriel (tenor) and Raphael (bass), with the chorus fulfilling an important role portraying angels glorifying their maker. Part Three is devoted entirely to the appearance of Adam and Eve (bass and soprano) who sing of the wonder and perfection of God’s newly created world and of their happiness together. Soloists and choir combine for the final uplifting chorus of praise.
In fact the whole work sparkles with the vitality and unfailing inventiveness so characteristic of this remarkable composer, who was still experimenting and still surprising his delighted audiences right up to the end of his working life.
© John Bawden 2009