The Seasons (Haydn) the words are essentially van Swieten's own or even imported from foreign sources." Like "The Creation", "The Seasons" was intended as a bilingual work. Since Haydn was very popular in England (particularly following his visits there in 1791–1792 and 1794–1795), he wished the work to be performable in English as well as German. Van Swieten therefore made a translation of his libretto back into English, fitting it to the rhythm of the music. Olleson notes that it is "fairly rare" that the translated version actually matches the Thomson original. Van Swieten's command of English was not perfect, and the English
The Creation of the Violin beautiful daughter as his wife. The tale ends with, "This is how the violin came to the world". The tale has folkloric origins and magical content; common in fairy tales, the old hag and the good fairy both possess magical powers. The good fairy, Matuya, is based on magic tales of the Hindu tradition (common in Roma tales). Matuya appears in Transylvanian, Hungarian, Polish, Russian and Serbian Roma mythology as queen of the Ursitory. These fairies, typically beautiful women who live in mountainside palaces, enjoy singing and dancing and symbolise music. One of the best-known Roma fairy tales, "The Creation