Haydn, Joseph. (1732–1809). Die Schoepfung. Ein Oratorium In Musik gesetzt...The Creation. An Oratorio. [Hob. XXI/2]. [Full Score]. . Vienna: [The Composer]. [1800]. First edition, full orchestral score. Calf-backed vellum-covered boards of the period, red leather title label on upper over, protected in a clamshell case. 14 1/4 inches (36 cm); blank, engraved title, 4 subscriber leaves, 303 engraved plates of music. With Haydn's small ink handstamp ("JH") to foot of title.


The front board detached, repair in pen facsimile to foot of title page (not touching the printer's authorization stamp), but a very clean copy internally and overall fine. Ink name of M. Deedes, 1825, on the front pastedown.


First Edition, published by the composer. Hoboken thematic catalogue Vol. II p. 36. Hirsch IV 799. Leipzig catalogue p. 19. Vecsey 303. Eitner V p. 66. BUC p. 456. RISM H2521.


A very rare copy of this monumental work, including the seldom-found subscribers list.


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)