From the church of Jesuits in Lucerne, Switzerland (1992)
Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Peter Schreier - conductor
Soloists:
Edith Mathis - soprano
Christoph Prégardien - tenor
René Pape - bass
Compare with the performance by soloist Matthew Rose, Lucy Crowe, Lisa Milne and the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic under the baton of John Nelson: • Video
Oratorio for three solo voices, chorus and orchestra in three parts
0:00 Joseph Haydn - The Creation (Die Schöpfung, Hob. XXI: 2)
1:35 Part I: The First Day
12:34 The Second Day
27:00 The Third Day
29:29 The Fourth Day
37:58 Part II: The Fifth Day
55:43 The Sixth Day
1:17:38 Part III
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Haydn - 'The Creation' - A Background
The background to Haydn's 'The Creation' is that the period from the middle to the end of the 17th century is known as "the Age Of Enlightenment". France was the centre of enlightenment ideas, led by famous people such as Voltaire, Rousseau and Diderot. The movement was widespread in Europe, especially in Britain (notably Dr. Samuel Johnson). It came rather late to Haydn's native Ausiria, but his "The Creation" is considered an example of Enlightenment music.
Many Enlightenment writers doubted established religion, but Haydn himself was a devoted Christian. The chief themes of the Enlightenment were to believe in the use of Reason and to stress both the importance of humanity in the development of rational knowledge and human perfectibility. "Everything" wrote Diderot, "must be brought to light".
Haydn's The Creation explodes with the creation of light (in Part I) which is central to the work, but its climax is the creation of Man, in Adam and Eve at the end of Part II and Part III.
Historical Background
Haydn's musical career was formed at the Cathedral choir school of St Stephen's Vienna (1740-1749). To pursue a musical career on the continent in the 18th century required aristocratic patronage and in due course Haydn became Kapellmeister to the Princes Esterhazy at their Habsburg Empire Palaces. There he performed music regularly and composed the bulk of his musical repertoire for the benefit of his patrons and their relatively few well-to-do friends in small auditoriums.
It was only in 1790, after the death of Prince Nicholas Esterhazy, that Haydn was encouraged by the impresario Salomon to travel and to visit London. He paid two visits to England from 1791-2, and again from 1794-5.
To these visits we owe the importance of choral works in Haydn's later music. He was profoundly impressed by performances of Handel's oratorios, especially the Messiah and its great choruses, and by their reception from the large English middle class audiences in public concert halls.
England provided not only the stimulus for The Creation but also its source for the libretto. There is an unverified story that in the aftermath of a performance of the Messiah, Haydn expressed his desire to compose a similar type of work. His companion is supposed to have responded by taking up the Bible and said "Take that and begin from the beginning". It is clear that for The Creation he received an English text which he brought from England to Vienna where it was translated into German by Baron von Sweiten, an influential Viennese patron. The Creation was first performed in German in 1798 but when the score was first published it was in both German and English. It was first performed in England in 1800.
The libretto of The Creation is entirely based on three English sources.
• The book of Genesis
• The Psalms
both in the English Authorised Version of the Bible
• Paradise Lost - the poem by John Milton
Composition and First Performance of The Creation
Haydn wrote the music from October 1796 to April 1798. Both the seirn-public final rehearsal and the first performance in Vienna attracted huge interest, though in Vienna only a select few could get tickets. Large crowds congregated outside the Schwarzenburg Palace where the performances took place. Contemporary. accounts show that the opening of the work (from the Representation of Chaos) was listened to in total silence (this itself was unusual at that time) but when the chorus and orchestra forte reached "and there was light" the entire audience rose to its feet applauding. A spectator wrote afterwards ".. .in my whole life I won't hear such a beautiful piece of music .. I never left the theatre more contented and all night I dreamed of the Creation of the World".
Later the Austrian Emperor asked Haydn which work he held in his greatest esteem. "The Creation" Haydn replied "because in it the angels speak and tell of God".
5 авг 2024
