aug 1, 1798 - The Creation

Description:

Haydn wanted to offer something similar to the Austrian nation (as Handel to england): an oratorio with text not in Latin but in the language of the people, for performance not in a Catholic worship service but under secular auspices so as to reinforce the Austrian nation in its loyalty not only to a dynasatic crown but also to a common soil. Haydn therefore leaped at the chance to write The Creation. The Libretto is based on the Bible and parts of Milton's Paradise Lost.

The beginning C actually has precedent in Mozart's Fantasia in C Minor, which was written prior. The Creation was written after Mozart's death.

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