of oratorio at Covent Garden Theatre, and who brought forward the
new work on the 28th of March (1800). An amusing anecdote is told
in this connection. The score arrived by a King's messenger from
Vienna on Saturday, March 22, at nine o'clock in the evening. It
was handed to Thomas Goodwin, the copyist of the theatre, who
immediately had the parts copied out for 120 performers. The
performance was on the Friday evening following, and when Mr
Harris, the proprietor of the theatre, complimented all parties
concerned on their expedition, Goodwin, with ready wit, replied:
"Sir, we have humbly emulated a great example; it is not the
first time that the Creation has been completed in six days."
Salomon followed on the 21st of April with a performance at the
King's Theatre, Mara and Dussek taking the principal parts. Mara
remarked that it was the first time she had accompanied an
orchestra!

French Enthusiasm

Strange to say--for oratorio has never been much at home in
France--"The Creation" was received with immense enthusiasm in
Paris when it was first performed there in the summer of this
same year. Indeed, the applause was so great that the artists, in
a fit of transport, and to show their personal regard for the
composer, resolved to present him with a large gold medal. The
medal was designed by the famous engraver, Gateaux. It was
adorned on one side with a likeness of Haydn, and on the other
side with an ancient lyre, over which a flame flickered in the
midst of a circle of stars. The inscription ran: "Homage a Haydn
par les Musiciens qui ont execute l'oratorio de la Creation du
Monde au Theatre des Arts l'au ix de la Republique Francais ou