The Seasons (Haydn) The Seasons (Haydn) The Seasons (German: "Die Jahreszeiten"), Hob. XXI:3), is an oratorio by Joseph Haydn, first performed in 1801. Haydn was led to write "The Seasons" by the great success of his previous oratorio "The Creation" (1798), which had become very popular and was in the course of being performed all over Europe. The libretto for "The Seasons" was prepared for Haydn, just as with "The Creation", by Baron Gottfried van Swieten, an Austrian nobleman who had also exercised an important influence on the career of Mozart (among other things commissioning Mozart's reorchestration of Handel's "Messiah"). Van Swieten's libretto
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.