Joseph Haydn The Seasons

Abridged foreword of the Edition Carus 51.980

Ernst Herttrich
Translation: Gudrun and David Kosviner

The premiere of The Creation on 30 April 1798 at the Palais Schwarzenberg in Vienna was the greatest success Haydn had ever experienced, so it was only natural that he and his librettist Gottfried van Swieten embarked on a new, similar project soon afterwards. When the first public performance of The Creation took place on 19 March 1799, causing a veritable storm of enthusiasm among the so-called “general public,” Haydn was already working on “a new great work after Thomson’s Seasons, which the worthy Privy Councillor Freyherr van Swieten had arranged metrically, and of which he had already completed the first section, Spring.” At any event, this was the announcement in the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung (AMZ) published by Breitkopf & Härtel a few days after said performance (24 March 1799). Breitkopf probably received the corresponding information from Georg August Griesinger, who acted as the Viennese liaison between Haydn and the publishing house.

By this time – if one may believe a letter from the Countess Charlotta of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf dated 17 March

Gekürztes Vorwort der Ausgabe Carus 51.980

Ernst Herttrich

Die Uraufführung der Schöpfung am 30. April 1798 im Palais Schwarzenberg in Wien war der größte Erfolg, den Haydn bis dahin erlebt hatte. Es war also nur natürlich, dass er und sein Textdichter Gottfried van Swieten danach rasch ein neues, ähnlich geartetes Projekt in Angriff nahmen. Als am 19. März 1799 die erste öffentliche Aufführung der Schöpfung stattfand und beim sogenannten „großen Publikum“ regelrechte Begeisterungsstürme auslöste, saß Haydn bereits an der Arbeit an „ein[em] neuen grossen Werk, welches der würdige Herr Geheimrath Freyherr van Swieten nach Thomsons Jahreszeiten metrisch bearbeitet, und wovon er bereits die erste Abtheilung, den Frühling, fertig hat“. Das ließ zumindest die bei Breitkopf & Härtel erscheinende Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung (AMZ) wenige Tage nach besagter Aufführung, am 24. März 1799, verlauten. Den entsprechenden Hinweis dürfte Breitkopf von Georg August Griesinger erhalten haben, der als Wiener Verbindungsmann zwischen Haydn und dem Verlag fungierte.

Wenn man einem Brief der

THE SEASONS

The Spring

1. Overture · Recitativo

The Overture paints the passage from the winter to the spring.

Simon
Behold where surly winter flies!
Far to the north he passes off.
He calls his ruffian blast,
they soon the forest, hill and vale,
with dreadful roarings quit.

Lukas
Behold, from craggy rocks the snows
in livid torrents melted run!

Hanne
Forth fly the tepid airs,
and from the southern shores allure
the messenger of spring.

2. Coro

Chorus of country people
Come, gentle spring, ethereal mildness, come!
And from her wintry grave bid drowsy nature rise.

Women and girls
See, gentle spring delightful comes!
Her soft and balmy breath we feel,
the joy of renovated life.

The men
As yet the year is unconfirm’d,
and oft, and oft returning winter’s blast,
or black envenom’d fog the bud
and bloom destroys, the bud and bloom destroys.

All
Come, gentle spring, ethereal mildness, come!
And smiling on our plains descend;
O come, gentle spring, o come while music wakes around,
O come, and smiling