allegroamabile wrote:So what do all of you think of Haydn's Creation. What about that sunrise, huh?
Do you mean the spectacular cadence in C-major on "And there was light" (und es ward Licht)? I love it as well as the quasi-atonal Chaos that precedes it, though the big cadence is not a sunrise but "merely" the creation of light. The sun isn't actually created until the Recit No.11 (Und Gott sprach: Es sei'n Lichter) and the first sunrise occurs only in at the start of the following recit No.12 (Im vollem Glanze). This is almost as impressive, with a crescendo from pianissimo to fortissimo over 10 bars applied to an elementary harmonization of an ascending D-major scale. It is another impressive effect produced from extremely simple means. Haydn has been among my top dozen composers since I was a kid.
If you want to hear a sunrise, listen to the one that Rimsky-Korsakov wrote in Act III of May Night (right before Levko sings the line "???, ???, ? ?? ????.").
"A libretto, a libretto, my kingdom for a libretto!" -- Cesar Cui (letter to Stasov, Feb. 20, 1877)
Anyways, I think it is best that we get back on topic. There is this one overture by Weber that is really stunning, and it is never played. It is called the Der Beherrscher der Geister, or The Ruler of Spirits.
I love Weber's works. I have been working on an English adaptation of Abu Hassan. I ideally would like an editable score - so I can edit in the English words. Does anyone have one?
I believe Weber produced both an orchestral and piano version himself for this opera.
Is the piano score on IMSLP Weber's original - does anyone have it? and can upload it?