Haydn’s The Seasons has always been overshadowed by his other great oratorio, The Creation. Even the composer opined disparagingly that the characters in the latter were angels, whereas in the former they were peasants.
But the celebration of divinity in nature by Haydn’s progressive, Enlightenment-influenced librettist Baron Van Swieten, is music to the ears of a more sceptical generation such as ours. Less prejudiced by theological concerns, we may more clearly discern the musical virtues of the work.
