The Creation structure voice for a late appearance. Whereas Bach and Handel reserve the high voice for the Annunciation to the shepherds, Haydn has Gabriel be the first to proclaim the wonder of the Wunderwerk (miraculous work). Differently from Handel, who keeps solo and choral singing mostly separate in his operas and oratorios, Haydn strives for an interaction of solo and chorus, as in his late Masses and contemporary opera. In the conclusion of Part I, "Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes" (The heavens are telling the glory of God), which covers the first two verses of Psalm 19, the second verse, "To
The Seasons (Haydn) was based on extracts from the long English poem "The Seasons" by James Thomson (1700–1748), which had been published in 1730. Whereas in "The Creation" Swieten was able to limit himself to rendering an existing (anonymous) libretto into German, for "The Seasons" he had a much more demanding task. Olleson writes, "Even when Thomson's images were retained, they required abbreviation and adaptation to such an extent that usually no more than faint echoes of them can be discerned, and the libretto often loses all touch with the poem which was its starting point. Increasingly during the course of the oratorio,