The ‘Creation’ was begun in 1795, to a libretto given the composer by the London manager, Salomon, and compiled by Lidley from Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’ and from Genesis. It was completed in 1798, when Haydn was sixty-six years old, and the first performance took place at the Schwarzenberg Palace on the 29th and 30th of April, 1798, with the text translated and much altered by Baron von Swieten. It was first publicly produced at the National Theatre, Vienna, March 19, 1799, and was received with greatest enthusiasm. It soon made its way to the music-centres of Europe, having its first London performance on March 28th, 1800, and its first Paris performance on Dec. 24th, of the same year. Napoleon I was on his way to attend the latter performance when he narrowly escaped death by an infernal machine in the Rue Nicaise. Structurally one is impressed with the large number of arias and the correspondingly small number of choruses, as compared with Handel’s later oratorios. In this respect Haydn was undoubtedly influenced by the form of the Italian concert oratorio, then very popular in Vienna. It is constructed in the usual three parts, the first two of which are the strongest. The overture is a quaint bit of tone painting; at first monotonous and barren of melody, it attempts to depict chaos; but gradually form begins to appear in the music and the various instruments speak out more clearly, until harmony is established. The first voice is that of Raphael (bass) in a short recitative, ‘In the beginning,’ followed by a chorus which gently whispers the words, ‘And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters,’ closing with a joyous outburst on the words, ‘And there was light.’ The separation of light from darkness follows, Satan and his legions ‘sink into the deep abyss’ and the quiet chorus appears, ‘A new created world springs up.’ The first four days of creation are described in a series of recitatives, arias and choruses, many of which are familiar the world over--the inspiring chorus with soprano obbligato, ‘The marvellous work’; the fine bass aria, ‘Rolling in foaming billows,’ with its lovely limpid refrain, ‘Softly purling’; and the well-known ‘With verdure clad,’ a soprano aria on which Haydn lavished the utmost care, having altered it three times before it entirely satisfied him--all leading up to the magnificent final chorus of the first part, ‘The heavens are telling,’ in which a trio of voices (Gabriel, Uriel and Raphael) is finely contrasted with the majestic choral passages.