Haydn's oratorio, The Creation, uses a text by Gottfried van Swieten, who adapted it from John Milton's Paradise Lost and the Bible.
Compositional Technique
The Creation is tonally forward-looking, beginning in C minor-major and progressing through various key centers before finishing in B flat, which was unusual for 18th-century works.
Notable Performances
The first performance of The Creation generated the biggest box-office returns in Vienna's history and united a war-divided Europe in admiration.
Performer Biography
Lucia Popp, a distinguished lyric soprano, made her stage debut as the Queen of the Night in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, a role she made her own.
Cultural Impact
Like Handel's Messiah in England, Haydn's The Creation has been performed annually in Vienna since 1798.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Haydn stated he was never more pious than when working on The Creation, daily asking God for strength to complete the work.
Composer Biography
Haydn spent nearly thirty years at Eisenstadt with Prince Nicholas Esterházy, composing many symphonies, string quartets, and 126 baryton trios.
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