Haydn had only written one big oratorio before "The Seasons". This was an oratorio called "The Creation". It had been performed in 1798 and was very popular all over Europe. The libretto (the words) had been written by Baron Gottfried van Swieten who was an Austrian nobleman who liked music. He had helped Mozart in his career and now he was helping Haydn. He wanted Haydn to write a second oratorio, so he wrote the libretto for "The Seasons". He used a long English poem with the same title by James Thomson (1700-1748). He made it much shorter and changed it so that it was suitable to be set to music, and he translated it into German. 