urpose, and Haydn
himself directed the orchestra. The most profound silence, the most
scrupulous attention, a sentiment, I might almost say, of religious
respect, were the dispositions which prevailed when the first stroke of
the bow was given. The general expectation was not disappointed. A long
train of beauties, to that moment unknown, unfolded themselves before
us; our minds, overcome with pleasure and admiration, experienced
during two successive hours what they had rarely felt,--a happy
existence, produced by desires, ever lively, ever renewed, and never
disappointed."

The first public performance was given at the National Theatre, March 19,
1799, Haydn's name-day, and the next by the Tonkuenstler Societaet. On the
9th of March he conducted it at the palace of Ofen before the Archduke
Palatine Joseph of Hungary. Its success was immediate, and rivalled that
of "The Messiah." It was performed all over Europe, and societies were
organized for the express purpose of producing it. In London rival
performances of it were given at Covent Garden and the King's Theatre
during the year 1800.

The oratorio opens with an overture representing chaos. Its effect is at
first dull and indefinite, its utterances inarticulate, and its notes
destitute of perceptible melody. It is Nature in her chaotic state,
struggling into definite form. Gradually instrument after instrument
makes an effort to extricate itself, and as the clarinets and flutes
struggle out of the confusion, the feeling of order begins to make itself
apparent. The resolutions indicate harmony. At last the wonderful
discordances settle, leaving a misty effect that vividly illustrates "the
Spirit of God moving upon the face of the waters." Then, at the fiat of
the Creator, "Let there be Light," the whole orchestra and chorus burst
forth in the sonorous response, "And there was Light." A brief passage by
Uriel (tenor) describes the division of light from darkness, and the end
of chaos, introducing a fugued chorus, in which the rage of Satan and his
hellish spirits, as they are precipitated into the abyss, is described
with tremendous discords and strange modulations; but before it closes,
the music relates the beauties of the newly created earth springing up
"at God's command." Raphael describes the making of the firmament, the
raging of the storms, the flashing lightning and rolling thunders, the
showers of rain and hail, and the gently falling snow