The Seasons (Haydn) Heartz, writing near the end of a massive three-volume account of the Classical era, writes "The Hunting and Drinking choruses first led me to study Haydn's music more extensively beginning some forty years ago ... no music has elated me more in old age than "The Seasons"." Michael Steinberg writes that the work "ensure[s] Haydn's premiere place with Titian, Michelangelo and Turner, Mann and Goethe, Verdi and Stravinsky, as one of the rare artists to whom old age brings the gift of ever bolder invention." Opinions vary as to the nature of the relationship between "The Creation" and "The Seasons"
The Creation of the Violin violin remains in the forest until it is found and taken by a travelling gypsy. In both tales, the violinist makes his audience laugh and cry. Creation tales are typical of mythology, and this is one of the few fairy tales which describe the creation of a musical instrument. Others are the Hungarian fairy tale, "The Violin", and the story of the Mongolian "morin khuur". Both differ significantly from the Transylvanian tale. In Greek mythology, the creation of the pan flute by Pan and Syrinx is a well-known example. interpreted the fairy tale in a hermeneutical analysis of modern audiences.