The first scene depicts early spring and opens with a lively overture and with recitatives from the three principals, expressing joy at the approach of the balmy season, at once followed by the first chorus, ‘Come, gentle spring.’ After the farmer’s aria comes a trio and a fugal chorus, ‘Be propitious, bounteous heaven.’ The chorus, ‘Spring, her lovely charms unfolding,’ is almost redolent with the odor of waxen buds and early blossoms. Following this is the closing fugal chorus, ‘God of light.’ ‘Summer’ is introduced with a short prelude leading to a beautiful aria by Simon, ‘From out the fold the shepherd drives,’ and at the appearance of the early sunrise the trio and chorus chant a song of welcome, ‘Hail, O glorious sun!’ The various numbers picture the progress of the day, and after the overwhelming heat of noon, an ominous silence tells of the coming storm. The drums give forth a peal of thunder, followed by a storm-chorus, ‘Hark the deep, tremendous voice.’ The driving rain, the thunder and the lightning-flashes are vividly pictured in the music. With the trio and chorus, ‘Now cease the conflicts,’ the music becomes tranquil again as the night approaches, with the droning of insects, the croaking of the frogs, the song of the quail and the peals from a distant bell-tower--and darkness and slumber drop over the land. The third part, ‘Autumn,’ depicting the ‘kind rewards’ of Nature, contains the song of Simon, ‘Behold, along the dewy grass,’ which is followed by the famous hunting chorus, ‘Hark! the mountains resound,’ a vivid tonal picture of the chase. A recitative, praising the rich vintage, leads to a scene of revelry, closing with the lively rustic chorus, ‘Joyful the liquor flows,’ in which a rollicking drinking-song, a well-known Austrian dance-melody with suggestions of bagpipe and fiddle, is happily introduced. ‘Winter’ is prefaced by a slow prelude indicative of the fogs creeping in. After the recitative of Simon and Jane’s cavatina, both picturing the approach of the icy season, there is a realistic musical picture of the wayfarer lost in the snow-storm. Simon moralizes on the changing seasons and offers as his conclusion that ‘nought but truth remains.’ A prayer to Heaven for divine guidance brings the pastoral scene to a close. The eighteenth century came to an end with Handel as the great outstanding figure in oratorio and Haydn just appearing on the scene. England led Europe in its devotion to this form of choral art, though Germany was soon to awaken to its importance. Bach’s magnificent choral works were slumbering on dusty shelves and Italian oratorio was still fatuously allied with operatic ideals, while France gave little heed to the form at all. But another half-century was to witness a more even distribution of interest in large choral forms. FOOTNOTES: [72] Score in the Royal Library, Dresden.