THE CREATION
In the late 18th century, the German composer Franz Joseph Haydn attended a performance of the oratorio Messiah, composed by Georg Friederic Händel. The overwhelming power of the music, along with the urging of Johann Peter Salomon, inspired Haydn to write an oratorio of his own. Salomon even provided him with a libretto, originally prepared for Händel, based on the sacred Book of Genesis and John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost. Haydn took the libretto to Vienna and presented it to the Baron Gottfried van Swieten, who translated it into German and edited it "for the sake of musical line or expression". He then took the finished libretto and re-translated it into English (this would become the first major work to be published in two languages) and presented it to Haydn.
Haydn, now in his mid-sixties, spent over a year composing the music, drafting the introduction (The Representation of Chaos) six different times before finishing it in 1798. The result was one of the most celebrated works of all time: The Creation.
GERMAN LIBRETTO
drafted by the Baron van Swieten
ENGLISH LIBRETTO
translated by the Baron van Swieten
ENGLISH TEXT
translated by His Royal Darkness
emphasizing literal translation from German