HAYDN, Franz Josef

Haydn’s greatest work, The Creation, as a work of art, claims the highest praise from musicians. Its merits as a purely sacred composition are open to question, for although Haydn approaches his subject in a reverent spirit, he does not thoroughly imbue his music with much of that spirit. The chief feature apparent in the Creation is the thoroughly beautiful character of the music, and the absence of that severe, vigorous, yet majestic and moving manner, which raises the oratorio...