A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Creation, The

CREATION, THE. Haydn's first oratorio, written at the suggestion of Salomon. The book of words was selected—originally for Handel—from Genesis and Paradise Lost by Mr. Lidley or Liddell, and translated into German, as 'Die Schöpfung,' with modifications, by Baron van Swieten. The music occupied Haydn from 1796 to April 1798, and was produced by a body of Dilettanti at the Schwartzenberg Palace, Vienna, April 29 [App. p.601 "2"], 1798. 500 ducats were subscribed for Haydn. In 1800 it was published in score at Vienna with German and English words, the latter re-translated by Van Swieten; 510 copies were subscribed for, of which nearly half were for England. It was first performed in London at Covent Garden, March 28, 1800, and in Paris Dec. 24, 1800, when Napoleon I. escaped the infernal machine in the Rue Nicaise. A great performance by the same society as before took place at the University Hall, Vienna, on March 27, 1808, in Haydn's presence, a year and two months before his death. Its popularity in England dates from March 17, 1813, and reached its climax some 20 years ago.