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No one thinks of dealing critically with the music of "The
Messiah"; and it seems almost as thankless a task to take the
music of "The Creation" to pieces. Schiller called it a
"meaningless hotch-potch"; and even Beethoven, though he was not
quite innocent of the same thing himself, had his sardonic laugh
over its imitations of beasts and birds. Critics of the oratorio
seldom fail to point out these "natural history effects"--to
remark on "the sinuous motion of the worm," "the graceful
gamboling of the leviathan," the orchestral imitations of the
bellowing of the "heavy beasts," and such like. It is probably
indefensible on purely artistic grounds. But Handel did it in
"Israel in Egypt" and elsewhere. And is there not a crowing cock
in Bach's "St Matthew Passion"? Haydn only followed the example
of his predecessors.
Of course, the dispassionate critic cannot help observing that
there is in "The Creation" a good deal of music which is
finicking and something which is trumpery. But there is also much
that is first-rate. The instrumental representation of chaos, for
example, is excellent, and nothing in all the range of oratorio
produces a finer effect than the soft voices at the words, "And
the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." Even the
fortissimo C major chord on the word "light," coming abruptly
after the piano and mezzoforte minor chords, is as dazzling to-day
as it was when first sung. It has been said that the work is
singularly deficient in sustained choruses. That is true, if we
are comparing it with the choruses of Handel's oratorios. But
Haydn's style is entirely different from that of Handel. His
choruses are designed on a much less imposing scale. They are
more reflective or descriptive, much less dramatic. It was not in
his way "to strike like a thunderbolt," as Mozart said of Handel.
The descriptive effects which he desired to introduce into his
orchestration made it necessary that he should throw the vocal
element into a simpler mould. Allowance must be made for these
differences. Haydn could never have written "The Messiah," but,
on the other hand, Handel could never have written "The
Creation."
The chief beauty of Haydn's work lies in its airs for the solo
voices. While never giving consummate expression to real and deep
emotion, much less sustained thought, they are never wanting in
sincerity, and the melody and the style are as pure and good as
those of the best Italian writing for the stage. With all our
advance it is impossible to resist the freshness of "With verdure
clad," and the tender charm of such settings as that of "Softly
purling, glides on, thro' silent vales, the limpid brook." On the
whole, however, it is difficult to sum up a work like "The
Creation," unless, as has been cynically remarked, one is
prepared to call it great and never go to hear it. It is not
sublime, but neither is it dull. In another fifty years, perhaps,
the critic will be able to say that its main interest is largely
historic and literary. [See J. F. Runciman's Old Scores and New
Readings, where an admirably just and concise appreciation of
Haydn and "The Creation" may be read.]
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