Joseph Haydn’s glorious masterpiece, The Creation, a three-part oratorio composed in 1798, celebrates the creation of the world as depicted in Milton’s Paradise Lost and the Biblical book of Genesis. Complete with a cast of characters and almost cinematic orchestral score, the work plays out as a musical drama, changing landscapes and scenes summoned one after the other before the audience’s eyes.

Inspired in part by Handel’s Messiah, The Creation is Haydn’s crowning masterpiece, a joyful balm in times of trouble. A terrifying God is nowhere to be found in this optimistic oratorio, which Haydn hoped would serve as a source of comfort to those burdened by cares. The prevailing mood is exuberant, radiant, and delights in God’s works. Precisely this spirit of unbounded joy and celebration has helped The Creation to endure throughout the years, a spiritual masterpiece for a secular age.

Performance sung in English.