The Creation in Full Score

by Joseph Haydn, Opera and Choral Scores

Late in his career, Haydn, inspired by the oratorios of Handel, turned to composing oratorios himself, launching what would become a final brilliant and successful phase of his extraordinary rich and productive musical life. The Creation is the most majestic achievement of that phase, a choral masterwork of seamless perfection that joyfully celebrates the wonders related in the Book of Genesis. This finely made volume, designed to provide a lifetime of study and enjoyment, is reprinted from the authoritative edition published by C. F. Peters of Leipzig, complete with the original German and English texts.
In The Creation , Haydn combined the tradition of the Handelian oratorio and the Viennese mass with his own symphonic style to depict the glories of nature and man's innocent joy in it. That he did so with youthful freshness and vigor even at an advanced age is vivid testament to the rarity of his gifts. Music lovers will find in these pages the spiritually enkindling qualities that have made The Creation , after Handel's Messiah , the most popular and most performed oratorio of all time.

Genres: Music

256 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1990

About the author

Franz Joseph Haydn (31 March, 1732 – 31 May, 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was pivotal in the evolution of chamber music forms like the string quartet and piano trio.

His contributions to musical form have led him to be called "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String quartet." Haydn was a friend and mentor of Wolfgang Mozart, and a teacher of composer Ludwig Beethoven.

Reviews

[Dave Land · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review is specific to the Lawson-Gould edition, ISBN-10: 0-7692-9660-1.

Haydn's music? ★★★★★ Divine, soaring, transcendent. A masterwork of glory and text painting.

Robert Shaw and Alice Parker's translation? ★★★★★ Just grand. It manifests poetic majesty while eliminating the awkwardness of Baron von Swieten's English-to-German-to-English translation, which the present score describes as nearly as bad as the hilarious "English As She Is Spoke." (Look it up: it's a gas.)

The engraving? The hand-written lyrics? ★☆☆☆☆ It's a whole 'nother story.

Is that a half note or a quarter note? Who can tell? While 160 pages of hand-written libretto is an impressive feat of effort, the penmanship ranges from late-night-rush sloppy to just OK. There are uneven staff sizes: sometimes normal, sometimes squeezed in like they forgot there was supposed to be a bass part until the last minute.

Hayden's masterpiece and Shaw & Parker's translation deserve a better outing than this. It'll get you through a performance, but you'll be fighting the engraver the whole way.

[Trounin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ищите во мраке и обрящете. Не всякий путь литературного произведения можно твёрдо проследить. Вот взять для примера ораторию Йозефа Гайдна, должную сообщить слушателю под какие звуки происходило сотворение мира. Для такого произведения требуется соответствующее либретто. Кому его сочинять? Можно взять работу неизвестного английского автора, что в свою очередь слово в слово следовал за библейским текстом. А можно перевести на немецкий язык, воспользовавшись услугами либреттиста Готфрида ван Свитена. Либо и вовсе всё можно запутать, оставшись единственным автором, без какого-либо упоминания авторства сопроводительного текста. В любом случае, русскоязычный читатель ознакомился с “Творением” благодаря переводу Николая Карамзина, что подобных проблем перед собой не ставил, просто указав в качестве автора Гайдена.

(c) Trounin

[Auntiecatherine]

The Creation. An oratorio. In vocal score ... With a separate accompaniment for the organ or pianoforte, arranged by Vin by Joseph Haydn (1960)

[Briana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Haydn was a funny guy.
I liked the text painting, especially with the animals.
I also liked Haydn's use of dynamics. Let there be LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!!!!