The University of Portsmouth Choir, accompanied by the Havant Symphony Orchestra, will give the performance, which is in aid of the St Mary’s Music Foundation.
Portsmouth will host the world premiere of a unique version of Haydn's Creation on Sunday 12 May at St Mary's Church in Portsea.
The University of Portsmouth Choir, accompanied by the Havant Symphony Orchestra, will give the performance, which is in aid of the St Mary’s Music Foundation.
Long considered one of the greatest of all choral works, The Creation was written by Joseph Haydn in 1797, after attending a massed performance of Handel's Messiah at Westminster Abbey in 1794.
However, when Haydn published the work, the English text was found to be clumsy and incoherent by English audiences. So, Anne Hunter, a Scottish poet who had written songs with Haydn during his first visit to London, produced a new text for Creation around 1804.
Hunter’s version was left undiscovered until 1993 and subsequent performances left out an extra song for Eve that she added. Professor George Burrows, from the University of Portsmouth has led a practice-research project to restore the song for Eve and address how Hunter's words are best fitted with respect to Haydn's music, along with the implications of that exercise.
I am incredibly proud and excited to be able to ‘find the voice for Eve’ and as Haydn visited Portsmouth, it is fitting that the city will be the venue for the first ever performance of this special version of the work.
This performance, which also marks 20 years of the directorship of the Choir by Professor Burrows, will be the first time this version will have been heard anywhere in the world.
Professor Burrows said: “Although a performance of Hunter's version of Haydn's Creation was staged by doctors in 1993, her text was poorly fitted to the music and an additional but critical song that she inserted in the work was left out.
“That song comes in Part 3 of Creation which draws on Milton's Paradise Lost to depict Adam and Eve enjoying the sublime and unspoiled nature of Eden and their love for one another.”
“In Haydn's score, Eve is not given a solo aria at all but sings almost entirely in duet with Adam. Hunter obviously felt Eve needed more of a voice of her own and so she inserts a three stanza 'Song Intended for Eve' in Part 3, albeit without any indication of what music should be used.”
“I am incredibly proud and excited to be able to ‘find the voice for Eve’ and as Haydn visited Portsmouth, it is fitting that the city will be the venue for the first ever performance of this special version of the work.”
Gayathri Khemadasa, a leading composer from Sri Lanka and a former member of the University of Portsmouth Choir, has been commissioned to set that song for the performance in May and a completely new edition of Creation has been prepared in order to better fit Hunter's poetry.
University of Portsmouth choir alumni will swell the ranks of the 80-voice choir for what promises to be a grand and unique performance involving nearly 150 performers.
Tickets can be purchased from the University of Portsmouth's online store at: https://onlinestore.port.ac.uk/product-catalogue/music
For further information, please contact music@port.ac.uk
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