The original English text for The Creation was originally created for, although never set by, G.F. Handel, for whom Haydn had a deep-rooted respect (particularly his oratorios). When Haydn saw the text - part-biblical, part-Milton's Paradise Lost - he saw its potential and asked a friend to translate it into German. Like a Handel oratorio, the work is full of fresh and vivid imagery. The chaos before the first day is (comparatively) dissonant, formless and anarchic. From there the pictorial descriptions are wild: the worm crawls, the lion leaps, and the wind blows.










