Joseph

HAYDN
The Creation
Hob. XXI:2

Text: Gottfried van Swieten

Soli (STB), Coro (SATB)

3 Flauti, 2 Oboi, 2 Clarinetti, 2 Fagotti, Contrafagotto
2 Corni, 2 Clarini, 3 Tromboni, Timpani
2 Violini, Viola, Violoncello, Contrabbasso, Cembalo/Fortepiano

edited by
Wolfgang Gersthofer

Joseph Haydn · Oratorios

Urtext

Vocal score
Paul Horn

C
Carus 51.990/04
Contents

Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Part One

1. Introduction · The Representation of Chaos. . . . . . . 5 18. Chorus (Gabriel, Uriel, Raphael, Chorus) . . . . . . . . 76
Recitativo (Raphael, Chorus, Uriel) The Lord is great
In the beginning God created

2. Aria (Uriel, Chorus) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 19. Recitativo (Raphael) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Now vanish before the holy beams And God said: Let the earth bring forth

3. Recitativo (Raphael) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 20. Recitativo (Raphael) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

And God made the firmament Strait opening her fertile womb

4. Chorus (Gabriel, Chorus). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 21. Aria (Raphael) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

The marv’lous work beholds amaz’d Now heav’n in fullest glory shone

5. Recitativo (Raphael) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 22. Recitativo (Uriel) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

And God said: Let the waters under the heaven And God created man

6. Aria (Raphael) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 23. Aria (Uriel) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Rolling in foaming billows In native worth and honour clad

7. Recitativo (Gabriel) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 24. Recitativo (Raphael) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

And God said: Let the earth bring forth grass And God saw ev’ry thing

8. Aria (Gabriel) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 25. Chorus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

With verdure clad the fields appear Achieved is the glorious work (I)

9. Recitativo (Uriel) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 26. Terzetto (Gabriel, Uriel, Raphael). . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

And the heavenly host proclaimed On thee each living soul awaits

10. Chorus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 27. Chorus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Awake the harp Achieved is the glorious work (II)

11. Recitativo (Uriel) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

And God said: Let there be lights Part Three

12. Recitativo (Uriel) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 28. Recitativo (Uriel) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

In splendor bright is rising now the sun In rosy mantle appears

13. Chorus (Chorus, Gabriel, Uriel, Raphael) . . . . . . . . 47 29. Chorus (Adam, Eva, Chorus) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
The heavens are telling the glory of God By thee with bliss, O bounteous Lord

30. Recitativo (Adam, Eva) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Part Two Our duty we performed now

14. Recitativo (Gabriel) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 31. Duetto (Adam, Eva) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

And God said: Let the waters bring forth Graceful consort! At thy side

15. Aria (Gabriel) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 32. Recitativo (Uriel) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

On mighty pens uplifted soars O happy pair

16. Recitativo (Raphael) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 33. Chorus (Chorus, Soli SATB) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

And God created great whales Sing the Lord ye voices all

17. Terzetto (Gabriel, Uriel, Raphael). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Soli: Soprano (Gabriel, Eva) · Tenore (Uriel) ·
Most beautiful appear Basso (Raphael, Adam) · Alto (No. 33)

2 Carus 51.990/04
Foreword

In the first half of the 1790s Joseph Haydn made two con- present-day research, it can be asserted that Haydn set his
cert tours to England which were of decisive importance composition to the German text, while the English text (for
for the composition of The Creation: Not only did the performances for an English public) was later underlaid by
monumental performances in Westminster Abbey leave a van Swieten, who may also have been responsible for the
lasting impression (in his London notebooks Haydn made accompanying rhythmic adjustments and alternative notes
note of 885 participants in the performance of the Messiah which were printed in the original edition in small typeface.6
for the “Handel Commemoration” in 17911), but on his Only the English singing text is printed in the present vocal
last departure from London in August 1795 he is supposed score in order to insure clear legibility (a German language
to have been given an older oratorio libretto on the biblical vocal score is also available, whereas the full score is print-
story of creation, originally intended for Handel, however ed in both languages).
its existence in this form has never been documented.
In view of the (alleged) weaknesses of the English singing
Following his return to Vienna, Haydn actually did set to text it was long assumed that van Swieten had made his
work on the material at once, whereby Gottfried Bernhard own retranslation of the German version into English. How-
Freiherr van Swieten (1733–1803), who was almost the ever, new research has shown that essentially the text con-
same age, would become his most important contact. Born cerned is probably the original (lost) model. This is demon-
in Leyden, in the Netherlands, since 1755 a diplomat in the strated not only by the conspicuous similarities to the
service of the Habsburgs, during his last assignment wording of Milton’s epic Paradise Lost and, as has been
abroad at the Prussian Court of Frederick the Great van documented in the meantime, to James Thomson’s The
Swieten became acquainted with the music of Handel and Seasons,7 but also by the literal coincidences to the influen-
Bach, which henceforth essentially shaped his musical tial King James Bible.
preferences. Even after leaving his political functions he
continued to make his mark in the intellectual life of the In the meantime, generally van Swieten’s English text has
Imperial (musical) Metropolis as what could probably be been more favorably judged than in earlier times. Thus,
called a “cultural manager.”2 With regard to The Creation, according to modern assessment of the three main points
it was he who reworked the English libretto, which essen- of criticism of the past the following can be said:8
tially was based on John Milton’s epic Paradise Lost,3 guid-
- The supposed false emphasis on normally unaccented sylla-
ed by the following ideas: bles, e. g., the final syllable “-ed” in the past tense was quite
normal in presentation of biblical texts in the 18th and 19th
[…] in order to provide our Fatherland the first enjoyment of centuries. Moreover, similar peculiarities of declamation are
[the oratorio], I decided to clothe the English poem with Ger- also found, e. g., in some Handel librettos and present no com-
man garb. Thus my translation came to be, in which I faithful- pelling reason for a text revision.
ly followed the main design of the original, on the whole, - The mixing of different tenses, as in the beginning of No. 21,
indeed, but in detail deviating as often as I considered that for example, can be understood as a deliberately introduced
musical progress and expression, of which the ideal was stylistic device.
already present in my mind, seemed to require it […].4 - False word order could be due to van Swieten’s efforts to make
the English text more compatible to the composition (thus, the
Haydn began the composition of The Creation probably in word order “The wonder of his works / displays the firma-
ment“ corresponds to the German “und seiner Hände Werk /
the fall of 1796 and may have completed it in spring, 1798. zeigt an das Firmament“ and thus insures an appropriate cor-
On 30 April 1798 the work was premiered in a private set- respondence between text and music).
ting before many invited (esteemed) guests in the Vienna
palace of Count Schwarzenberg – with considerable suc- As a result of these considerations in the present edition
cess. The musical direction fell to the composer himself. On the English singing text is rendered in its original form, with
the 19th of March 1799 the work was finally performed the exception of a few corrections listed in the Critical
publicly for the first time, which means that through entry Report (see the full score) and the adaptation of modern
tickets the general public gained access to a performance in syllabification.
the K. K. Court Theatre next to the Burg. The “singers and
orchestral forces […] consisted of more than 180 persons.“5 1 Joseph Haydn, Gesammelte Briefe und Aufzeichnungen. With the use
The great success appears to have advanced Haydn’s plan of the source collection of H. C. Robbins Landon, ed. Dénes Bartha,
Kassel, etc., 1965, pp. 485 and 506.
to publish the score himself. In June 1799 he announced an 2 Gottfried Scholz, Haydns Oratorien. Ein musikalischer Werkführer,
invitation to subscribe to the work. As a result, Haydn raised Munich, 2008, p. 58.
a considerable subscription list of 409 people, among which
3 Concerning the – unknown – authorship of the English libretto, see
Georg Feder, Joseph Haydn. Die Schöpfung, Kassel, etc., 1999 (= Bä-
were, in addition to fellow musicians, a number of person- renreiter Werkeinführungen), p. 129.
ages of high and highest standing. The publication of the 4 Gottfried van Swieten’s account which appeared in the Allgemeine
score at the end of February 1800 had evidently favored the Musikalische Zeitung (AMZ I, Sp. 254f., 3 Jan. 1799), Leipzig.
5 AMZ I, note **) to col. 446.
rapid dissemination of The Creation, for still in the same 6 See Feder (as in note 3), pp. 129–131.
year performances followed throughout Europe. 7 See Neil Jenkins, “The libretto of Haydn’s ‘The Creation.’ New sources
and a possible librettist,“ in: Haydn Society Journal, No. 24/2 (2005),
pp. 32–53.
In addition to the German text the first edition of the score 8 See Joseph Haydn Werke XXVIII/3: Die Schöpfung, ed. Annette Op-
contains an English text. In accordance with the results of permann, Munich, 2008, S. XIXf.

Carus 51.990/04 3
In the original part-books for the vocal soloists the parts for
the choirs are also notated – presumably as a recommenda-
tion for them to sing with the choir at will. The findings in
the first edition of the score and in the original engraver’s
copy also point in this direction: Either a participation of the
soloists is signified by designations such as “Colla Voce Dell
Basso” or “Col Tutti,” or by the notation of the first note/
the first notes of a tutti passage in the system of the solo
voice, followed by the continuation of a (blank) stave. In
the present edition, in these cases the appropriate tutti pas-
sages are reproduced in the stave of the solo voice. (How-
ever, the case also occurs that in the sources at the end of a
solo passage, as well as before the reentry of the solo part
rests are indicated and accordingly the affected tutti pas-
sages are not reproduced here; see No. 2, after measure 77,
and before the entrance in measure 113 respectively.)

There is no original numbering for the movements of The

Creation. In the engraver’s copy for the first edition larger
blocks of movements – always beginning with a secco
recitative (often the keyword taken from the Bible) and
ending with an aria (describing what has been created) or a
choir (of praise) – are divided from one another through
the use of three final strokes; within this block a double bar
separates each movement from another. The numbering of
our edition is orientated on this system, whereby for prac-
tical reasons a continuous numbering system, as opposed
to a further subdivision using letters (1a, 1b, etc.) has been
given preference here. The structure of the source is ren-
dered in the present edition by means of a thin double
stroke within a block of movements and an actual final
stroke at the conclusion of a block. The numbering systems
already introduced from previous editions partly differ from
that of the present edition. Therefore, for purposes of ori-
entation the numbers given in the scholarly-critical Haydn
Complete Edition and in the two vocal scores widely used
in English speaking regions are indicated on the right-hand
side at the beginning of each movement:

GA = Gesamtausgabe/Complete Edition (Joseph Haydn

Werke, XXVIII/3: Die Schöpfung, ed. Annette Opper-
mann, Munich, 2008);
N = New Novello (Joseph Haydn, The Creation. Die
Schöpfung. Vocal Score, ed. Michael Pilkington, London,
1999);
O = Oxford University Press (Joseph Haydn, Die Schöp-
fung. The Creation. Vocal score, ed. A. Peter Brown with
Julie Schnepel, Oxford/New York 1991).

Leipzig, January 2012 Wolfgang Gersthofer

Translation: Earl Rosenbaum

For this work the following performance material is available for

sale:
Full score (carton) (Carus 51.990/00)
Full score (clothbound) (Carus 51.990/01)
Vocal score, German (Carus 51.990/03)
Vocal score, English (Carus 51.990/04)
Choral score, German (Carus 51.990/05)
Choral score, English (Carus 51.990/06)
Study score (Carus 51.990/07)
Instrumental parts (set, Carus 51.990/19)

4 Carus 51.990/04