Musical Moments #31
“Music is the tool to express life – and all that makes a difference.”
Herbie Hancock
The Creation
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
As promised, here is another section of Joseph Haydn’s masterpiece The Creation.
A text prepared by London musician Thomas Lindley was given to Haydn as he departed for Vienna in 1795. The words, taken from the Bible’s Book of Genesis and Milton’s Paradise Lost, presented an immediate problem because they were in English. Seeking a translation, Haydn then tasked the director of the Imperial Library, Barron Gottfried van Swieten, with three goals regarding the text: translate it into German, shorten the four-hour length, and offer suggestions about musical settings. The Creation was later translated back into English for its London premiere.
Haydn actually began the composition in late 1796. He labored carefully because he considered this work a very important and meaningful endeavor, and he offered explanation for his intentionality-slowed process by saying, “I spend much time over it because I intend it to last a long time.” The seven versions penned for the opening “Chaos” section, now housed in Vienna’s National Library, substantiate Haydn’s compositional deliberateness. Upon completion of the work in April of 1798, just three weeks before its first performance for a private gathering in Vienna, Haydn wrote, “I have never felt so devout as when I was working on The Creation. Every day I fell on my knees and prayed to God to give me strength to finish the work successfully.”
At a public performance in Vienna in 1808, a feeble Haydn pointed to Heaven after the audience ovation, and Beethoven, in attendance at the concert, showed his respect by kneeling and kissing Haydn’s hands. Even Napoléon planned to be present to hear the hugely popular work but missed the performance due to a bomb thrown at his carriage while en route to the event. He had such respect for the composer, though, that as his troops were invading Vienna, he stationed a guard by Haydn’s door to protect him.
Our Moravian friends have the distinction of The Creation’s first American performance which was held in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in 1811. Their music foundation’s archives hold a hand-written full score probably copied by Moravian composer Johann Friedrich Peter. The influence Haydn had on the Moravians could be due to the relationship he had with the influential Moravian composer Christian Ignatius Latrobe, who worked with Haydn in London.
Our music today is the fourth and fifth day of Creation and includes recitatives, florid arias, and two fabulous choruses: “The Heavens are Telling” and “The Lord is Great.” The soloists, joined by the Bach Choir and Orchestra, are bass-baritone Kevin Deas, tenor Anthony Ciaramitaro, and soprano Clara Rottsolk.
Use your imagination as you listen closely to the smorgasbord of musical expression reverberating throughout The Creation. In this remarkable piece, Joseph Haydn provides keen insight into his genius and personality as he puts on vivid display a full palette of colors and styles and a fresco of sound.
“You have to take a deep breath and allow the music to flow through you. Revel in it, allow yourself to awe. Allow the music to break your heart with its beauty.”
Anon
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