Program Notes & Text
The Creation - Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)

Haydn witnessed many radical changes in music during the course of his long life. He was eighteen when Bach died in 1750, not long before the close of the Baroque era, and seventy-two when Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’ Symphony was first performed in 1804, ushering in the Romantic period. Old forms of music were superseded by the symphony, sonata and string quartet, patronage moved from the church to the royal court, and public concerts were rapidly becoming immensely popular. Throughout all these changes, Haydn remained a pioneering figure. Other composers had written symphonies, sonatas and string quartets before him, but it was Haydn who first exploited the untapped potential of these forms, expanding and developing them to a hitherto unimagined degree.

The almost childlike cheerfulness of Haydn’s music, its inexhaustible inventiveness and its perfection of design conceal a considerable inner strength. This fusion of exuberance, originality, classical elegance and intellectual power explains to a large extent the compelling appeal of his music. These are the qualities that placed Haydn far and away above the level of all except Mozart amongst his contemporaries, and kept him at the forefront of music during most of the eighteenth century. No wonder he was hailed as a genius throughout Europe, admired and revered by the public and by his peers. Mozart said, ‘Haydn alone has the secret both of making me smile and of touching my innermost soul’. Even Napoleon, on capturing Vienna, immediately ordered a guard of honour to be placed round Haydn’s house.

For much of his life Haydn’s energies were devoted primarily to composing orchestral and instrumental music. The supreme choral masterpieces of his old age – The Creation, The Seasons and the six last great masses, including the well-known Nelson Mass – were all composed after 1795, the year in which he completed the last of his 104 symphonies.

The oratorio as a musical form appeared briefly in seventeenth century Italy, but was soon eclipsed by the much more popular operas. It was Handel who resurrected the oratorio from obscurity, 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. The succession of masterpieces that Handel wrote 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, as a result of which he resolved to write an oratorio himself that would be worthy of Handel’s supreme examples. In 1796, inspired by what he had heard whilst in London, Haydn set to work on the score, which was not completed until 1798, by which time he was sixty-six. ‘I was never so devout as during that time when I was working on The Creation,’ he observed. The work 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, ‘Representation of Chaos.’ 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. Soloists and choir combine for the final uplifting chorus of praise.

The Creation represents a considerable dramatic development over its Handelian predecessors. Haydn’s bold use of orchestral colour, his adventurous harmony, exceptional rhythmic and melodic inventiveness, and the work’s strong overall unity bring the subject to life with an almost operatic vividness and power. The opening is a good illustration of Haydn’s innovative approach. The extended orchestral introduction, itself a departure from the conventional overture, is entitled ‘Representation of Chaos’ and immediately arrests the listener’s attention with its shifting, ambiguous harmonies on muted strings, brass and timpani. In the ensuing recitative Raphael tells us that ‘the earth was without form, and void’ and this is reflected in the sparse emptiness of the orchestral accompaniment. The choir continues in a mood of hushed stillness, until ‘and there was light’, at which point there is a sudden, massive fortissimo chord of C major from the now unmuted full orchestra. Even after two hundred years the effect is still immensely powerful. It was evidently totally overwhelming at the time, judging by the following account from one of Haydn’s friends.  ‘. . . and at that moment when light broke out for the first time, one would have said that rays darted from the composer’s burning eyes.  The enchantment of the electrified Viennese was so general that the orchestra could not proceed for some minutes,’ he wrote.

This is perhaps the most startling dramatic gesture of the whole work, but there are plenty of other equally effective instances of musical word-painting, such as the storm scenes, the wonderful sunrise music and the colourful depiction of various animals and birds. It is also worth drawing attention to Haydn’s musical characterisation. In fact the whole work sparkles with the vitality and unfailing inspiration so characteristic of this remarkable composer, who was still experimenting and still surprising his delighted audiences right up to the end of his life.

John Bawden


Text
PART I
Representation of Chaos (orchestra)

Recitative (Raphael)
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form and void;
And darkness was upon the face of the deep.

Chorus
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face
of the waters;
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Recitative (Uriel)
And God saw the light, that it was good:
and God divided the Light from the darkness.

Aria (Uriel) with Chorus
Now vanish before the holy beams
The gloomy dismal shades of dark:
The first of days appears.
Disorder yields to order fair the place;
Affrighted fled hell’s spirits black in throngs;
Down they sink in the deep of abyss to endless night.
Despairing cursing rage attends their rapid fall.
A new-created world springs up at God’s command.

Recitative (Raphael)
And God made the firmament,
and divided the waters which were under the
firmament from the waters which were above the
firmament; and it was so.

Outrageous storms now dreadful arise;
As chaff by the winds are impelled the clouds.
By heaven’s fire the sky is enflamed,
And awful roll the thunders on high.
Now from the floods in steams ascend
Reviving showers of rain,
The dreary wasteful hail, the light and flaky snow.

Aria (Gabriel) with Chorus
The marv’lous work beholds amazed
The glorious hierarchy of heav’n,
And to th’ ethereal vaults resounds
The praise of God,
And of the second day.

Recitative (Raphael)
And God said, Let the waters under the heaven
be gathered together unto one place,
and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
And God called the dry land Earth;
and the gathering of waters called he Seas;
and God saw that it was good.

Aria (Raphael)
Rolling in foaming billows
Uplifted roars the boist’rous sea.
Mountains and rocks now emerge:
Their tops into the clouds ascend.
Through open plains outstretching wide,
In serpent error rivers flow. Softly purling glideth on
Through silent vales the limpid brook.

Recitative (Gabriel)
And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass,
the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit
after his kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth:
and it was so.

Aria (Gabriel)
With verdure clad the fields appear
Delightful to the ravished sense; by flowers sweet and
gay enhanced is the charming sight.
Here vent their fumes the fragrant herbs;
Here shoots the healing plant.
By loads of fruits th’ expanded boughs are pressed;
to shady vaults are bent the tufty groves;
The mountain’s brow is crowned with closed wood.

Recitative (Uriel)
And the heavenly host proclaimed the third day,
praising God and saying:

Chorus
Awake the harp, the lyre awake!
In shout and joy your voices raise!
In triumph sing the mighty Lord!
For he the heavens and earth has clothed
in stately dress.

Recitative (Uriel)
And God said,
Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven
to divide the day from the night,
and to give light upon the earth:
and let them be for signs, and for seasons,
and for days, and for years.
He made the stars also.

Recitative (Uriel)
In splendour bright is rising now the sun,
And darts his rays; an am’rous, joyful, happy spouse,
A giant proud and glad to run his measured course.
With softer beams and milder light
steps on the silver moon through silent night.
The space immense of th’ azure sky
Innum’rous host of radiant orbs adorns.
And the sons of God announced the fourth day
In song divine, proclaiming thus his pow’r:

Chorus with Trio
The heavens are telling the glory of God;
The firmament displays the wonder of his works.
To day that is coming speaks it the day;
the night that is gone, to following night.
In all the land resounds the word,
Never unperceived, ever understood.

PART II
Recitative (Gabriel)
And God said,
Let the waters bring forth
abundantly the moving creature
that hath life, and fowl
that may fly above the earth
in the open firmament of heaven.

Aria (Gabriel)
On mighty pens uplifted soars the eagle aloft,
and cleaves the sky in swiftest flight to the blazing sun.
His welcome bids to morn the merry lark,
And cooing calls the tender dove his mate.
From ev’ry bush and grove resound
The nightingale’s delightful notes;
No grief affected yet her breast,
Nor to a mournful tale were tuned
Her soft, enchanting lays.

Recitative (Raphael)
And God created great whales,
and ev’ry living creature that moveth.
And God blessed them, saying,
Be fruitful all, and multiply!
Ye winged tribes, be multiplied and sing on ev’ry tree!
Multiply, ye finny tribes, and fill each wat’ry deep!
Be fruitful, grow, and multiply!
And in your God and Lord rejoice.

Recitative (Raphael)
And the angels struck their immortal harps,
and the wonders of the fifth day sung.

Trio
Most beautiful appear,
With verdure young adorned,
The gently sloping hills.
The narrow, sinuous veins
Distil in crystal drops
The fountain fresh and bright.
In lofty circles plays
And hovers through the sky
The cheerful host of birds.
And in the flying whirl,
The glitt’ring plumes are dyed,
As rainbows, by the sun.
See flashing through the wet
In thronged swarms the fry
On thousand ways around.
Upheaved from the deep,
The immense leviathan
Sports on the foaming wave.
How many are thy works, O God!
Who may their numbers tell?

Trio with Chorus
The Lord is great, and great his might.
His glory lasts for ever and for evermore.

Recitative (Raphael)
And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living
creature after his kind, cattle and creeping thing,
and beasts of the earth after their kind.

Recitative (Raphael)
Straight opening her fertile womb, the earth obeys the
word, and teem creatures numberless,
in perfect form and fully grown.
Cheerful, roaring, stands the tawny lion;
In sudden leaps the flexible tiger appears;
The nimble stag bears up his branching head.
With flying mane and fiery look impatient neighs the
sprightly steed; the cattle in herds already seek
Their food on fields and meadows green.
And o’er the ground, as plants are spread the fleecy,
meek, and bleating flocks. Unnumbered as the sands,
In whirls arise the host of insects. In long dimensions
creeps with sinuous trace the worm.

Aria (Raphael)
Now heav’n in all her glory shines;
Earth smiles in all her rich attire.
The room of air with fowl is filled,
The water swelled by shoals of fish;
By heavy beasts the ground is trod.
But all the work was not complete:
There wanted yet that wondrous being
That grateful should God’s pow’r admire,
With heart and voice his goodness praise.

Recitative (Uriel)
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God created he him;
male and female created he them.
He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,
and man became a living soul.

Aria (Uriel)
In native worth and honour clad,
With beauty, courage, strength adorned,
To heav’n erect and tall he stands a man,
The lord and king of nature all.
The large and arched brow sublime.
Of wisdom deep declares the seat,
And in his eyes with brightness shines the soul.
The breath and image of his God.
With fondness leans upon his breast
The partner for him formed,
A woman, fair and graceful spouse.
Her softly smiling virgin looks,
Of flow’ry spring the mirror,
Bespeak him love, and joy, and bliss.

Recitative (Raphael)
And God saw ev’ry thing that he had made,
and, behold, it was very good.
And the heavenly choir in song divine
thus closed the sixth day:

Chorus and trio
Achieved is the glorious work:
The Lord beholds it, and is pleased.
In lofty strains let us rejoice!
Our song let be the praise of God!

On thee each living soul awaits;
From thee, O Lord, they beg their meat.
Thou openest thy hand, and sated all they are.
But when from them thy face is hid,
With sudden terror they are struck.
Thou tak’st their breath away; they vanish into dust.
Thou lett’st thy breath go forth again,
And life with vigor fresh returns.
Revived earth unfolds new force and new delights.

Achieved is the glorious work,
Our song must be the praise of God!
Glory to his name for ever!
He sole on high exalted reigns. Alleluia.


Chorus with Soli
Sing the Lord, ye voices all!
Utter thanks, all ye his works!
Celebrate his pow’r and glory!
Let his name resound on high!
The Lord is great; his praise shall never end. Amen.

THE END