t, but he thought better of the matter, and now wrote
to the composer for a copy of the score, so that he might produce the
oratorio in London. He was, however, forestalled by Ashley, who was at
that time giving performances of oratorio at Covent Garden Theatre, and
who brought forward the new work on the 28th of March (1800). An amusing
anecdote is told in this connection. The score arrived by a King's
messenger from Vienna on Saturday, March 22, at nine o'clock in the
evening. It was handed to Thomas Goodwin, the copyist of the theatre,
who immediately had the parts copied out for 120 performers. The
performance was on the Friday evening following, and when Mr Harris, the
proprietor of the theatre, complimented all parties concerned on their
expedition, Goodwin, with ready wit, replied: "Sir, we have humbly
emulated a great example; it is not the first time that the Creation has
been completed in six days." Salomon followed on the 21st of April
with a performance at the King's Theatre, Mara and Dussek taking the
principal parts. Mara remarked that it was the first time she had
accompanied an orchestra!

French Enthusiasm

Strange to say--for oratorio has never been much at home in France--"The
Creation" was received with immense enthusiasm in Paris when it was
first performed there in the summer of this same year. Indeed, the
applause was so great that the artists, in a fit of transport, and to
show their personal regard for the composer, resolved to present him
with a large gold medal. The medal was designed by the famous engraver,
Gateaux. It was adorned on one side with a likeness of Haydn, and on
the other side with an ancient lyre, over which a flame flickered in the
midst of a circle of stars. The inscription ran: "Homage a Haydn par les
Musiciens qui ont execute l'oratorio de la Creation du Monde au Theatre
des Arts l'au ix de la Republique Francais ou MDCCC." The medal was
accompanied by a eulogistic address, to which the recipient duly replied
in a rather flowery epistle. "I have often," he wrote, "doubted whether
my name would survive me, but your goodness inspires me with confidence,
and the token of esteem with which you have honoured me perhaps
justifies my hope that I shall not wholly die. Yes, gentlemen, you have
crowned my gray hairs, and strewn flowers on the brink of my grave."
Seven years after this Haydn received another medal from Paris--from
the Societe Academique des Enfants d'Apollon, who had