HAYDN’S EXTRAORDINARY ORATORIO, THE SEASONS, FIRST EDITION OF THE FULL SCORE, IN ORIGINAL BOARDS

HAYDN, Joseph. Full orchestral score. ["Die Jahreszeiten [The Seasons], nach Thomson, in Musik gesezt von Joseph Haydn. Partitur. Originalausgabe"]. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Haertel, [1802]. Two volumes. Folio, modern three-quarter brown calf gilt, marbled boards. $6500.

Desirable first edition of the full score of Haydn's ground-breaking oratorio, with engraved title-page and subscribers’ list, handsomely bound.

"The unprecedented success of The Creation led to a second collaboration between Haydn and his librettist van Swieten in The Seasons… From the beginning of the Vivace in the introduction to 'Spring' it is clear that the character is different. In the depiction of morning and noon in 'Summer' there is something of the ethereal character of The Creation, but otherwise the many brilliant scenes are mostly tableaux of everyday country life… the combination of solo or ensemble with chorus is used here too, with fine effect, as in the brilliant depiction of sunrise in 'Summer' and the monumental final chorus in 'Winter.' But no less impressive are the very different hunting-chorus and drinking-chorus in 'Autumn,' which seem to bring to life Brueghel's paintings of peasant conviviality" (New Grove, 8: 359). Haydn wrote The Seasons during the twilight of his career. Struggling with failing memory and increasing physical frailty, he often lamented the difficult process that went into its composition and despaired of completing it. "Perhaps the greatest miracle of the oratorio is therefore that it provides virtually no evidence of the increasing frailty and exhaustion of its composer. Quite the reverse… the sheer energy and vitality of the writing leave the astonished commentator groping for descriptive powers to come anywhere close to an understanding of how this music could have been written by a man complaining of fading powers" (Robins, Goldberg Early Music Magazine). Typeset music with engraved title page. Hoboken II: 58. Hirsch IV: 795. Ink-stamps to title pages. With inoffensive pencil markings from an early performance.