which he was librarian. Haydn passed on Lidley's book to him, van
Swieten had it translated and doctored to suit his own taste, and Haydn
set to work. He faced the task with a degree of seriousness and
solemnity which the music would never suggest. In April of 1798 it was
given for the first time, privately, at the Schwartzenburg Palace; in
March of the following year it was given publicly at the National
Theatre. From the beginning it was an electrical success, and was
immediately performed everywhere. Haydn had been guaranteed 500 ducats
for it, but gained very much more. In the end, in the way I have
previously mentioned, it became the property of the Tonkünstler Societät
of Vienna. In England it was for over half a century the "Messiah's" one
great rival. Lately it has dropped out of the repertories of London and
provincial choral societies. Fashions in sacred music, like fashions in
popular preachers, have a trick of changing.

No sooner was _The Creation_ fairly launched on a fairly long career
than van Swieten wanted another oratorio. Somehow--or perhaps
naturally--he associated oratorio with England, and as he could not get
the music from us, he did as badly as he could--he came here for the
poetry. The words of nearly all the oratorios are ridiculous. Those of
_The Creation_ are no worse than the words of many by Handel. Van
Swieten, however, did his honest best to provide Haydn with a downright
silly book for his last work, and it must be admitted that by going to
James Thomson's _Seasons_ he succeeded. Like _The Creation,_ it rapidly
became popular in Germany, Austria, and England. It went out sooner than
_The Creation_, and went out, I suspect, also like _The Creation_, never
to return. It was given in April, 1802, at the Schwartzenburg Palace.

During the period after his return from England--or, more exactly, from
1796 till 1802--Haydn wrote most of his bigger church works. They may be