The Creation

A tremendous tutti chord dissolves in a primordial musical soup of volatile harmonies, unfocused motives and an atmosphere of vague formlessness. In the futuristic opening sequence of Die Schöpfung (The Creation), Joseph Haydn pulls out all the stops to convey the chaos of the early universe. It's the introduction to an overwhelming musical panorama of the divine creation.

In less than two hours, he takes us from the first light, the first plants and animals to the creation of the first humans: Adam and Eve. After a successful premiere at the 2015 Ruhrtriennale, the Collegium Vocale Gent and B'Rock baroque orchestra perform Die Schöpfung at the Holland Festival. German video artist Julian Rosefeldt's accompanying film radically brings Haydn’s creation oratorio into the 21st century.

In the summer of 1796, Joseph Haydn received a note from Baron Gottfried van Swieten, asking whether he would be interested in writing a large oratorio 'in the spirit and the manner of Handel'. The Esterházy Kapelmeister didn't have to worry about the cost, the project would be funded by Van Swieten's Gesellschaft der Associierten (an association of rich, music-loving noblemen). And a libretto had been written as well. In the previous months, the Baron had taken it upon himself to write the story of the Creation – loosely based on John Milton's epic verse Paradise Lost supplemented by sections from the biblical books of Genesis and Psalms. The public premiere of The Creation at Vienna's Burgtheater in 1799 was a huge success. The lofty theme and the spectacular choral scenes (indeed very much 'in the spirit of Handel') captured the imagination; not to mention Haydn's inventive tonal representations of the creation of light (a radiating C major chord) and the turbulent primordial seas (swaying strings). Also, The Creation fits in seamlessly with the enlightened spirit of the late eighteenth century. Haydn's work presents the creation as a harmonious whole of cosmos, flora and fauna, with man as the undisputed crowning glory of God's miraculous work – in all his dignity, beauty, wisdom and rightfulness. The fact that the fall of man only gets one line in Haydn’s Creation speaks volumes. 

Julian Rosefeldt jumped at the chance to shoot an accompanying film to Haydn's masterpiece. 'What immediately sprang to mind were the immense, desolate sets that I'd seen a year before when I visited the Atlas Film Studios in Morocco,' the video artist recalled. As well as these ranging mountain landscapes, Rosefeldt shot derelict industrial works in the German Ruhr Area. 'Both locations show relicts of human civilisation,' he explains. 'Whether it's the reconstructed ruins of old civilisations or the remains of the industrial age, they both show our human creative urge, and in doing so connect the past with the present. In a sense the footage almost works as a counterpoint, juxtaposing what we hear in the music. This is a conscious decision. I think it's very important for the shots to convey serenity and spaciousness, images of vast, desolate landscapes, which the music and lyrics need to fill.'