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Raymond Harmon IV
Dr. Charles McKnight
Music Hist./Lit. 352
November 8
th
, 2002
Haydn’s
The Creation
“A secret voice whispered to me: ‘There are in this world so few happy and
contented people; sorrow and grief follow them everywhere; perhaps your labour will
become a source in which the man bowed down by care, or burdened by business
matters, will find peace and rest.’”--Haydn, 1802
Franz Joseph Haydn remains now, in the Twenty-first century, one of the most
prolific composers of all time. He composed over 750 works and arranged over 330
songs and his above sentiment explains only a part of his creative motivation. It is
difficult to pin down somebody’s reasons for doing something so magnificent as
conceiving and completing a massive work like
The Creation
two hundred years after the
fact. However, one can certainly argue a few of those reasons effectively and such is the
activity that will take place herein. Likewise, the beauty of form and structure contained
within the movements of Haydn’s magnum opus will be examined.
To truly comprehend the greatness of one man’s actions, it is necessary to
understand the man himself. The life of Franz Joseph Haydn is no more complicated
than that of any other man. Every life is filled with toil and torture, though Haydn’s
destiny as a musician of phenomenal ability and influence was recognized early enough
to have him sent to school in Hainburg in his Austrian homeland at the tender age of six.
The eldest boy of the twelve children of Mathias and Anna Maria Haydn, Joseph excelled
in vocal performance. His talent was widely praised thanks to his musically-oriented,
wheelwright father’s innumerable local family concerts. This exceptional potential
justified his parents’ sending him out of Rohrau so early in life. His inevitable success as
a pupil prompted his schoolmaster’s desire to take him to learn at the Cathedral of St.
Stephen in Vienna.
The future “father of the symphony” began composing at St. Stephen’s, with
rough beginnings. One account notes that Reutter, the kapellmeister in charge of the
choir boys, found a young Haydn writing a
Salve Regina
in twelve parts. Reutter laughed
mockingly at the boy and shouted “Oh, you silly child, aren’t two parts enough for you?”
Haydn had apparently believed that writing good music meant merely filling a page with
notes. He later confessed regretfully that Reutter only ever gave him two lessons in all
the many years he stayed with him. (Geiringer 20) Reutter’s ridicule and indifference
may have provided the fuel for Haydn’s ambition. Because he had no proper teachers, he
learned to understand by listening, attending various Catholic festivities, programs, and
choral services (including two he performed in daily). He would observe the chords and
melodies of a great quantity of music. “I listened attentively and tired to turn to good
account what most impressed me. Thus little by little my knowledge and ability were
developed.” (Geiringer 21)
At thirteen, Joseph’s voice began changing and deteriorating. Around this time,
his younger brother, Michael, began his stint at St. Stephen’s, outshining his own vocal
successes. Michael would later find early achievements at the age of twenty, the very
same age Joseph struggled through poverty and the fear of failure. Until then, Joseph
dealt with the shame brought on by his new voice and the problems it gave him. The
Empress Maria Theresa reportedly told Reutter “Joseph Haydn doesn’t sing any more: he
crows.“ (Landon 37) By seventeen years old, his sense of humor emerged in the form of
a childish prank. Legend has it he took some sheers and cut off the pigtail braid of a
fellow chorister. For this reason (and his faltering soprano voice), he received a caning
from Reutter and was expelled from the choir, left to face a world for which he had not
been prepared.
Haydn was soon making a meager living by singing in the streets, playing dance
music in taverns, and giving lessons. A stroke of luck landed him the position of valet to
the then famous composer, Nicolo Porpora. In return for shining shoes and other menial
work, Haydn received theory lessons and made many connections. This was the
beginning of the upswing in Haydn’s career. He received an appointment as music
director to Prince Anton Esterhazy in 1761 and served the Esterhazy family for almost 30
years. Under this patronage, he composed almost every conceivable variety of vocal and
instrumental music.
With the approval of the Prince, Haydn experimented in his vast outpouring of
music. Haydn added his own touches to the techniques of the Viennese Classic School.
Despite his growing sense of musical sophistication, he managed to keep a child-like
simplicity in his music. Even his masses and other sacred pieces displayed an atypical
measure of good humor. This caused many critics who were accustomed to traditionally
bland church music to disapprove of him. Haydn responded "At the thought of God my
heart leaps for joy and I cannot help my music doing the same."
It is true that Haydn’s idea of God was that of a happy deity. It is evident in all of
his religious works, most notably,
The Creation.
Haydn was a faithful man, who even
went as far as habitually writing “In nomine Domini” at the beginnings of his scores and
either “Laus Deo” or “Soli Deo Gloria” at the ends. His numerous religiously themed
works point to his faith. His motivation to create them was both self-induced and
humanitarian. Haydn liked the idea of making music that could bring people to enjoy
worship and experience a musical representation of God. He felt so moved by Handel’s
oratorios during his London visits in the early 1790s, witnessing firsthand how they
appealed to not only the upper classes but large groups of mainly middle-class citizens.
When Haydn left England, he was handed a new libretto entitled "The Creation of
the World." In Vienna, Haydn's friend, Gottfried van Swieten, recognized that the work
could be used to show the entire range of Haydn's abilities and express the full potency of
his genius. He decided to set it in both German and English, and began composing in
1796. By 1798 the great work was ready. It was the first large-scale work in musical
history to be published with bilingual text. At the public premiere, public reception was
overwhelming.
The Creation
was performed over 40 times during the following decade
in Vienna alone. It was soon performed all over Europe and premiered in 1819 in
America.
Haydn's
The Creation
is a vivid portrait of the seven days of Creation depicted in
the Bible and Milton's
Paradise Lost.
It
contains striking images of the world as it was
created. Scored for full Classical orchestra, chorus, and soloists, the work begins with a
depiction of chaos in the time before the world was formed. As the days of Creation
progress, he finds beautiful ways of representing various creatures of the world, from
whales to humans. The defining work of Haydn’s career,
The Creation
expresses its
composer’s intense faith and skill. The techniques Haydn uses to combine various styles
and moods and recreate the grandeur of the first days of existence are numerous and
magnificent, as can be seen in each of the three parts of the oratorio.
Part One of the oratorio contains the events of the first four Days of the six Days
of Creation. The First Day opens in c minor with a musical representation of chaos,
dissipated by a “quietly confident chorus” representing God’s creation of heaven, earth
and light. The Second Day has a more brilliant chorus representing the separation of the
waters on earth. The Third Day contains a fugue for the chorus to represent the
formation of the earthly terrain. The sun, moon, and stars are created on the Fourth Day,
which holds the climactic chorus “The heavens are telling” in C major. (Temperley 47)
Part Two of the oratorio contains the events of the Fifth and Sixth Days of
Creation. On the Fifth Day, God made the birds and fish and ordered them to multiply.
Haydn chose to accent this triumph with the longest bit of text and music thus far into the
piece. This event is highlighted by a trio of angel soloists. The Sixth Day brings the land
animals and humans to Creation, illustrated in the music by two brilliant choruses, the
second containing a full double fugue in B flat Major. (Temperley 48)
Each of the Days in Parts One and Two contain at least one secco recitative
performed by the angels Gabriel, Raphael, and/or Uriel. The dialogue is taken straight
from the Bible and describes the action taking place. Haydn could not base his
composition of these recitatives on Italian principles of recitative because they did not
allow for the variable rhythm needed to convey biblical prose. Thus, he was forced to
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