The Creation is Haydn's masterpiece, based on a lifetime of experience and reflecting the happy confidence of the eighteenth century. Although there are moments that presage the nineteenth century, it has none of the agonizing of the Romantic period. Three years from the end of the eighteenth century it is a summation and celebration of that century's ideals by one of it's greatest figures. The story is unfolded by three soloists, whose names, taken from Milton, were supplied by the Baron Van Swieten: Gabriel (soprano), Uriel (tenor) and Raphael (bass). Haydn's Missa brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo is a short mass in the Viennese tradition, although it is thought that it was composed for the Convent Chapel of the Eisenstadt Chapter Haydn's Missa brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo is a short mass in the Viennese tradition, although it is thought that it was composed for the Convent Chapel of the Eisenstadt Chapter of the Brothers of Mercy (Barmherzige Br der), with which order Haydn had long bee.
