Three Choruses from “The Creation”

The Wonder of God’s Work, Let Us Be Joyful, and The Heavens are Telling from Haydn’s The Creation are three of the most excerpted choruses performed as separate octavos throughout the last century. They are a wonderful way to introduce young musicians to the classical era of choral composition; they were some of my first pieces I sang from the classical era as well. Although the original movements were written with full orchestral accompaniment, I have transcribed the pieces for string quintet. This edition also includes a new English translation, which was the result of my desire to produce a new English translation that better matches the exquisite beauty of Haydn’s compositional writing.

This new English translation is part of a full edition of Haydn’s The Creation that was the culmination of research for my doctoral document at the University of Arizona. This English translation is based on current research into The Creation, as well as review of original text sources: the original English text of Baron van Swieten; the German translation, provided by van Swieten, that Haydn used to compose the oratorio; original source material including the King James Bible and Milton’s Paradise Lost. Finally, these text sources were combined with modern language and syntax in order to more accurately represent the original English text. A companion document detailing this research is available.
– Philip Moody

The Wonder of God’s Work

The wonder of God’s work is seen and heavenly hosts sing joyfully.
Loud praise resounds throughout the heavens,
the praise of God, to end the second day.

Let Us Be Joyful
Uriel:
And the heavenly host proclaimed the third day, praising God and saying:
Chorus:
Let us be joyful in songs of glory!
Praise God with harp, and lyre, and voices;
with jubilant song, sing praise to the Lord!
Truly the heavens and earth have been given all splendor by God.

The Heavens are Telling
Uriel:
and the people of God sang praise with voice and heavenly song to end the fourth day.
They proclaimed God’s power saying:
Choir:
The heavens are telling the glory of God.
The sky proclaims the work of God’s almighty hands.
Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael:
God’s work is proclaimed from day to day, from night that is gone to following night.
In every land resounds the word, all the world can hear it, always understood.