Haydn’s Creation is being performed tonight at Durham Cathedral by the Durham Singers and Durham Singers Ensemble. With a splendid array of soloists from the Samling Academy and Samling Artist Bradley Travis, the convert begins at 7.30, under the direction of Julian Wright. There is a pre-performance talk for ticket holders, given by Giles Gasper, 7.00-7.20 exploring the deeper history to narratives of the Genesis account of creation. Lying behind Haydn, and the libretto of the Creation, are centuries-old traditions of Christian commentary on the six days of creation and of concerns with the order, beauty, management and meaning of God’s creative act, and the appearance of the world-machine. Music also lies close to the heart of creation narratives, voice is the medium by which creation comes to being, and the nature of musical harmony, proportion and ratio make it a natural means by which the order of the cosmos was to be explained for late antique and medieval writers. Haydn’s infectious yet serious, joyful and playful approach to his subject resonates with these longer narratives.
