Haydn, Joseph. (1732–1809) [Swieten, Gottfried van. (1733–1803)]
Die Schöpfung - LIBRETTO
Amsterdam: J. H. Henning. [ca. 1799]. Die Schöpfung. Grosses Oratorium, in Musik gesezt (sic). 8vo. 20 pp. Limp pale green paper wrappers. Staining to a handful of page edges, more significant stains on two leaves, else fine. Stamp of "Haus Landfort" on title and Ex-Libris plate "Luyken Landfort" opposite on inner front cover, indecipherable tiny ownership signature penned upper right of title. Worldcat records no copies of the present edition, though we have located one at the Universiteits Bibliotheek Gent.The present copy evidently belonged to the Amsterdam physician and botanist Johann Albert Luyken (1785-1867), who lived from 1823 at the country estate and former manor house Landfort in Megchelen ( Municipality Oude IJsselstreek ), in the Dutch province of Gelderland, located on the German border and with a history dating back to the fifteenth century.
One of the highpoints of the Western musical canon, the Oratorio with a libretto by Gottfried von Swieten, was recognized from its earliest performances as a masterwork of the first order (see New Grove, 8: 346, 347, 358). First performed at the Palais Schwarzenburg in Vienna on April 29th and 30th, 1798, though not performed publicly until the following year, when it was heard at the Burghteater in Vienna on March 19th. "There is hardly any doubt in the mind of the average music-lover that Haydn's Oratorio The Creation is, tutto sommato, his greatest single accomplishment, and certainly ranks as one of the greatest products of any eighteenth-century mind. It occupies a central position in choral literature and its composition and first performances were the dominant features of Haydn's life in the late 1890s." (Robbins Landon: Haydn Chronicle and Works Vol. IV: Haydn The Years of 'The Creation' 1796-1800, p. 12)
Quite possibly from the first performance in Amsterdam, this is a rare early copy of the beloved oratorio's text. (18201)
Printed Music Classical Music