The Heavens are telling

Haydn's "The Creation" was the central event of the inaugural Southwell Music Festival (22-25 August 2014) in Nottinghamshire, England. The Southwell Festival Sinfonia, the Southwell Festival Voices with soloists Sophie Bevan (soprano), Andrew Staples (tenor) and Ashley Riches (bass) were conducted by Festival Founder and Artistic Director Marcus Farnsworth. Sunday Times music critic Hugh Canning tweeted: "a superb Creation"..."that would have graced any London venue". The 2015 Festival takes place from 27th to 31st August.

[@poetChinweJohn]

Wonderful performance from vocalists and orchestra!

[@marinapegrisch1305]

Well done!, brilliant:)😇🙃

[@franciszekleonarczyk5846]

This is so important

[@F-Man]

Ahhhh the fugato from 2:57 to the end!!!

[@rudeman16]

really amazing

[@esenaboxaki]

How can I see your whole performance?

[@kvngwylyam3858]

Am I hearing different word arrangements 🤔

[@connieonrecord]

yes, doesn't rlly fit as well tbf

[@jonb4020]

Great stuff! But next time, in the original language, please!

[@edwardthompson5716]

English is the original language for the Creation!

[@jonno6433]

@@edwardthompson5716 One learns every day! Thank you for letting me know: I had always assumed that Haydn had written the music to the German language version.

[@Dugehstmiraufnkeks]

@@edwardthompson5716 Thats not quite right, the original english libretto was supposedly written for Händel who then never used it. Following that Haydn got hold of it who had it translated to german and then retranslated back to english, which is the version that he published simultaniously to the german one. But since the retranslation to english is often critisized for not being good enough the piece is often times still performed in german even in english speaking countries.

[@elaineblackhurst1509]

@@Dugehstmiraufnkeks
You are quite correct, and the original publication had both German and English words.
The key point is that Haydn intended the oratorio to be understood; consequently, translations soon appeared in most major languages, including less obvious ones like Swedish; the famous 1808 performance in Vienna conducted by Salieri and attended by both Haydn and Beethoven was actually in Italian.
(This is the performance depicted by Balthazar Wigand that appears on every cd cover in every booklet).
The main problem with the English version is van Swieten’s clumsy re-translation of his German translation of the original back into English.