|
The first performance of "The Creation" was of a purely private
nature. It took place at the Schwartzenburg Palace, Vienna, on
the 29th of April 1798, the performers being a body of
dilettanti, with Haydn presiding over the orchestra. Van Swieten
had been exerting himself to raise a guarantee fund for the
composer, and the entire proceeds of the performance, amounting
to 350 pounds, were paid over to him. Haydn was unable to describe
his sensations during the progress of the work. "One moment," he
says, "I was as cold as ice, the next I seemed on fire; more than
once I thought I should have a fit." A year later, on the 19th of
March 1799, to give the exact date, the oratorio was first heard
publicly at the National Theatre in Vienna, when it produced the
greatest effect. The play-bill announcing the performance (see
next page) had a very ornamental border, and was, of course, in
German.
Next year the score was published by Breitkopf & Hartel, and no
fewer than 510 copies, nearly half the number subscribed for,
came to England. The title-page was printed both in German and
English, the latter reading as follows: "The Creation: an
Oratorio composed by Joseph Haydn, Doctor of Musik, and member of
the Royal Society of Musik, in Sweden, in actuel (sic) service of
His Highness the Prince of Esterhazy, Vienna, 1800." Clementi had
just set up a musical establishment in London, and on August 22,
1800, we find Haydn writing to his publishers to complain that
he was in some danger of losing 2000 gulden by Clementi's
non-receipt of a consignment of copies.
|
|
