Haydn's Oratorio The Creation

Sacred Music / Oratorio

 

 

Oratorio 'Die Schöpfung' considered the greatest work of Haydn

Franz Joseph Haydn's masterpiece, oratorio 'The Creation': facts, the cast, brief history, and other Haydn-related information. 

Haydn said of the time he was at work on this enormous composition, (The World of the Oratorio by Kurt Pahlen, Scolar Press, 1990):

"Never had I been so devout as when I was composing The Creation. Everyday I fell to my knees and prayed to God to give me strength for my work."      


"The heavens are telling the glory of God,
the wonder of his work displays the firmament.
To-day that is coming, speaks it the day,
the night that is gone, to following night.
The heavens are telling the glory of God,
the wonder of his work displays the firmament.
In all the lands resounds the word,
never unperceived, ever understood.
The heavens are telling the glory of God,
the wonder of his work displays the firmament."
~ The Heavens are Telling, from Haydn's "The Creation"~

Video: F.J. Haydn - "The heavens are telling"〈The Creation〉Oratorio / Christopher Hogwood. YouTube, uploaded by Protestant7 (Baroque music). Accessed April 30, 2013. 

In his last years, Franz Joseph Haydn created his masterpiece the oratorio The Creation. The Austrian classical composer expressed his vision of the creation, as told in the Holy Bible and John Milton's poem Paradise Lost.

 

The Creation is considered Joseph Haydn's greatest work. He spent relentlessly working on it just before the turn of the 19th century.

 

The CREATION (Franz Joseph Haydn) SD. Uploaded by LandsmannVideo. Accessed March 4, 2018.   (Gabriel · Eva Ida Falk Winland, Soprano. Uriel - Andrew Staples, Tenor. Raphael -  David Stout, Bass. Adam - Robert Davies, Bass. Musica Saeculorum. Konzertmeister: Matthew Truscott. Conductor: Philipp von Steinaecker)

Facts about The Creation:

Composer: (Franz) Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), an Austrian composer born in Rohrau, Austria.  

Original Title: Die Schöpfung

Original Language: German

Text: Gottfried van Swieten (Baron von Swieten), Austrian patron of the Arts. The words are based on the Holy Bible's Book of Genesis and a poem by the Englishman Lidley (or Linley), who also based his work on Milton's Paradise Lost.      

Form: Three Parts, a total of 34 musical numbers. 

Date of Writing: 1796-1798.

First Performance: Vienna, in the palace of Prince Schwarzenberg, April 29 and 30, 1798.

Mozart and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Mozart Variations of "Ah! vous dirai-je maman" for Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star

"Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star"  is a poem sung to the tune of the French melody  "Ah! vous dirai-je, Maman", which was published in 1761 and later arranged by composer Wolfgang A. Mozart for his famous "12 Variations on "Ah! vous dirai-je, Maman, K265/300e.

It is a common misconception that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote "Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star."  He did not, as many of us believed or were made to believe whilst playing it for our piano lessons as children that Wolfgang Mozart composed it. Mozart was a child of five when the original French folk song was composed under the title of "Ah! vous dirai-je, Maman", in 1761. Literally, or in context, the English translation would mean something like "Oh, would I tell you, mom?",  "Will I tell you, mom?", or "Should I tell you, mom?".  The music first appeared (without words) in "Les Amusements d'une Heure et Demy" by Mr. Bouin in Paris.

Here's one played by Natalie Schwamova. Sorry, embedding is disabled upon request. She played this when she was 11 years old.  (Accessed from Youtube, September 11, 2012)

Mozart's Ah! vous dirai je maman: Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star KV 265

Mozart composed a series of variations on this melody when he was older. Amongst my CD collection of Mozart music is Mozart, with 12 Variations "Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman," K265, performed by Andras Schiff on the piano under Decca Record label, 1988.

The Chemistry of Planet Earth

Earth Chemistry for Earth Day

Our Earth is the only planet that can initiate and sustain life-forms, with an atmosphere containing two chemical elements, 78% of nitrogen and 21% of oxygen at an average temperature of 15 degrees Celsius and with two-thirds of its surface covered by ocean. 

A chemical element is a basic substance found in nature. It cannot be broken down into simpler substances by using ordinary chemical processes. The elements are the building blocks for all other substances. When they are combined with other elements the result is called a compound. For example, water is a chemical compound of the elements oxygen and hydrogen.

Nature has 92 chemical elements, and more than 20 additional ones have been created artificially in laboratories. Some elements, including nitrogen – the major component of air – are present in great abundance. Some are quite rare.

History of the Helicopter

Leonardo da Vinci, the Italian High-Renaissance great thinker and a polymath, is commonly assumed as the first person to conceive the helicopter, a helicopter-like machine, as it was found among his drawings.

There is also evidence that Chinese and Renaissance Europeans had the design in mind, because among the artefacts found from these civilizations are toys that look like helicopters.

History tells us that various inventors have tried to work out a functional helicopter, but the problem was finding an engine that could make a "blade" whirl with enough power to create the "lift" or vertical thrust in order to get off the ground.

Handel's Oratorio Messiah

Classical Music / Oratorio:  Handel's Messiah

Greatest Oratorio of all time, with its powerful "Hallelujah Chorus"

George Frideric Handel's sacred music, Messiah, remains the most famous oratorio for Easter and Christmas. Facts and other information are revisited in this article. Messiah, a fixture of the Christmas season most especially the "Hallelujah Chorus", is in fact not originally created by George F. Handel for Christmas but for Lent.

Brief Information of Oratorio Messiah

George Frideric Handel's oratorio Messiah is first performed on April 13, 1742, the Tuesday before Easter, in a small theatre in Dublin, Ireland. In particular, it is customary for the audience, Christians and any believer of Christ's birth and resurrection, to rise during the singing of the "Hallelujah Chorus" being carried away by the magnificence of the music.

 

 George F. Handel set Charles Jennens' Biblical libretto to an oratorio music with much speed in the summer of 1741. In just 24 days, Messiah was completed, August 22–September 14. Like many of Handel's compositions, Messiah is much adapted liberally from his earlier works. He wrote the piece while staying as a guest at Jennens' country house in Leicestershire, England. It is thought that the work was completed inside a garden temple.

 

Starting in 1745, the performance of the Messiah became an yearly event in Dublin during Holy Week. It was only during the 19th century when it crossed the Atlantic that performances of the oratorio became associated with the Christmas season. 

 

History of Swiss Army Knife

The Swiss army pocket knife is a little red and silver knife, beautifully designed, with knives, scissors, corkscrews, screwdrivers, can-openers and many more surprises slotted into its sleek chassis. It's a brainchild of Swiss cutler Karl Elsener who was financially ruined before becoming one of the world's icons.

It was 1884. After completing an apprenticeship as a cutler in Tuttlingen, Germany, Karl Elsener returns home to Ibach, in Switzerland. The 24 year old son of a milliner had his big idea. The Swiss army was being supplied with knives from the German town of Solingen. At the time, the Swiss economy was extremely unhealthy, and local lads regularly left their but mountainous nation to find jobs elsewhere. Elsener hoped to supply the army with locally-made knives and to create new jobs in the process.

Preferring not to build a factory, the enterprising Elsener formed the Swiss Cutlers' Association, gathering twenty-five other cutlers to produce knives for the army. These knives contained a blade, punch, can-opener and screwdriver.

William Wordsworth

Literature / Great Poets.

Brief biography and works of William Wordsworth, England's Poet Laureate

Wordsworth is regarded as the first and greatest English Romantic poet and became England's Poet Laureate in 1843. He is most popular with the poem "Ode: Intimations of Immortality." 

Early Life of William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth was born on April 7, 1770 in Cockermouth, the Lake District where he lived most of his life. The region's magnificent landscape gave him a love of nature that deeply affected his life. He was orphaned at 13, but two uncles had him educated at a good local school and at Cambridge University where he began writing poetry.  

At age 23, his first poems were published. An Evening Walk and Descriptive Sketches were inspired by a walking vacation in France and Switzerland.

In 1795 Wordsworth met Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and in 1798 the two jointly produced Lyrical Ballads together. Most of the poems were Wordsworth's. He used ordinary but lyrical words to express strong sentiments about remembered scenes and events. His brilliant imagination could make everyday ordinary countryside scenes alive and seemingly full of meaning.