Attending performances of Handel's choral works while in England, Franz Josef Haydn (1732-1809) decided to write his own large-scale oratorio. He began to work on DIE SCHOPFUNG (THE CREATION), Hob.XXI: 2 in 1796, aided by a libretto by Gottfried van Swieten that incorporates various texts from Milton's Paradise Lost, Genesis, and the Psalms. Throughout the work, Haydn depicts the events of creation with Handelian choruses and colorful word-painting. The first public performance took place at the old Burgtheater in Vienna on March 19, 1799.