Die Jahreszeiten, or The Seasons, is not as well loved as Haydn's other late oratorio, The Creation; here Haydn tried to force pastoral imagery -- by 1801 a set of ideas that had been musically rehashed for centuries -- into his late and in many respects proto-Romantic musical language. He resented, he wrote to a correspondent, having to compose "French trash" at one point in the score that called for frog sounds, and the score contains a menagerie of other rustic creatures and sounds -- shepherds, shepherdesses, horn calls ...
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Die Jahreszeiten, or The Seasons, is not as well loved as Haydn's other late oratorio, The Creation; here Haydn tried to force pastoral imagery -- by 1801 a set of ideas that had been musically rehashed for centuries -- into his late and in many respects proto-Romantic musical language. He resented, he wrote to a correspondent, having to compose "French trash" at one point in the score that called for frog sounds, and the score contains a menagerie of other rustic creatures and sounds -- shepherds, shepherdesses, horn calls, birds, trees, bees, herbs, fish, roosters, rifle shots, thunder and lighting, stags, sunrises, and sunsets, among others. Yet the work is a strange mixture of cute and exultant. In the big sunrise near the beginning of the Summer section, Haydn almost suggests Mahler. The comparison is not frivolous, for one early performance of the work is said to have involved 400 musicians. Thus, of all Haydn's works, this one (and The Creation) would seem least likely to be afflicted by the...
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Seller's Description:
Very good. Includes disc(s), case, booklet, and back artwork. May show slight wear. Disc(s) are professionally cleaned and may contain only light scratches that do not effect functionality.