Haydn’s “The Creation” and the opening of paradise

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Haydn’s “The Creation” and the opening of paradise

Published: 12 Sep. 2025, 00:05

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Na Sung-in

The author is a music critic and director of the classical music brand Poongwoldang.

“The Creation” (1798) offered Joseph Haydn the perfect subject to reignite his creative drive. The biblical story of God shaping the world in six days was familiar to everyone, and the newly made natural world gave the composer a broad canvas for musical illustration. As a master of depiction and humor, Haydn found in it an ideal theme.

Creation itself is the central problem of all artists. In portraying the origins of the world, Haydn tested the limits of his own inventiveness. He dismantled the strict hierarchies of the Baroque and established new principles of musical construction. By combining a few simple motifs in countless ways, he gave musical form to the freedom of human imagination. The first part of the oratorio describes the creation of heaven, earth and plants during the first four days. The second turns to animals and humankind on the fifth and sixth.

Portrait of Joseph Haydn by Thomas Hardy, 1791. [WIKIPEDIA]

But what of the seventh day, when God rested? Unlike light, seas, or living beings, the Sabbath offered nothing to depict in sound. If creation ends with nature alone, without human joy to complete it, the story remains unfinished. Haydn answered this challenge in the third part. Here, Adam and Eve appear in the garden. They first give thanks to God, then turn to each other in love. Their astonishment at existence, conveyed through both music and text, becomes the true image of paradise. Love for creation and love for fellow humans make the third part of “The Creation” a musical vision of Eden itself.

The oratorio was a triumph from its premiere. Yet the story of what followed is equally telling. The aging composer turned to the welfare of colleagues struggling in Vienna. Haydn donated part of the proceeds from performances of “The Creation” to the city’s Society of Musicians. The funds supported widows and children of musicians in need.

In this way, Haydn, affectionately known as Papa Haydn, shaped not only a musical paradise but also a human one — through generosity that echoed the harmony of his art.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.