The Creation structure but may be written by an unknown author. Back in Vienna, Haydn passed it to his friend and sponsor Baron Gottfried van Swieten, who translated and organized it. The sources for the libretto are the two Creation narratives from the Book of Genesis, some Psalms, and John Milton's "Paradise Lost", an epic poem in ten volumes, first published in 1667. The libretto is structured in three parts, the first dealing with the Creation of the universe and the plants, the second with the Creation of the animals, and of man and woman, and the third with Adam and Eve in
The Creation (Haydn) The first deals with the creation of light, of heaven and earth, of the sun and moon, of the land and water, and of plants. The second treats the creation of the animals, and of man and woman. The final part describes Adam and Eve during their happy time in the Garden of Eden, portraying an idealized love in harmony with the "new world". The oratorio is described below, for each part by both a table of the movements and description of individual movements. As in other oratorios, the larger musical numbers (arias and choruses) are often prefaced with a