Die Schopfung (The Creation)

The oratorio The Creation represents not only a crucial point in Joseph Haydn's compositional output, but at the same time, marks the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the oratorio. At the turn of the 19th century, Haydn broke with the traditional dominance of the arias, giving the chorus a distinctly greater significance. This opened the way for a new kind of choral oratorio which became one of the standard features of developing bourgeois concert life.

The text, translated from the English original by Baron van Swieten, Prefect of the imperial court library in Vienna, combinesprose texts of the creation story in Luther's translation of the Bible with complementary excerpts from John Milton's Paradise Lost.

Instrumentation: Soprano solo, Tenor solo, Bass solo, Mixed Choir-SATB, Orchestra