From its first performance in Vienna in 1798 The Creation caused a sensation throughout Europe. It was seen as the crowning achievement of the world's greatest living composer and box office receipts broke all records. In Part 1 Haydn deals with the creation of the earth and its flora; Part 2 with the animal world and man and Part 3 with the awakening of Adam and Eve. The three soloists portray archangels and, later, Adam and Eve. The musical depiction of the chaos from which emerges creation; the animals; the moment when light appears out of darkness and the sun rises; are enormously effective and popular. Haydn's inventive and startlingly modern orchestration illuminates a text by Baron Gottfried van Swieten drawn from Paradise Lost and the Bible.
