The Gwanuncaegurwen Silver Prize Band
In the form of Handel's Samson which is now usually performed, the tale begins after he has been blinded and when he is a prisoner in chains. This air, eloquent of his grief at the loss of his sight, comes quite near the beginning. Sir Walford Davies, in one of his talks to the ordinary listener, pointed out the impressive effect of the interval of the fourth at the words 'No sun, no moon,' followed by the drop of a fifth where Samson mourns, 'All dark.' The opening words are sung without accompaniment, and throughout the air is impressive by its very simplicity.
Second only to Handel's Messiah in the affections of British music-lovers, Haydn's big Oratorio deals in picturesque fashion with the Creation of the World, of the growth of herb and flower, and finally with the coming of Man. It is of that last part of the Creation that this splendid aria tells, and it is one of the two or three arias, like 'With verdure clad,' which almost every listener must have heard. But there can be but few who have not enjoyed all the fresh and charming melody of the work, set forth as it is with fine expressive orchestral accompaniment.
A man of devout and simple piety, Haydn approached this task in a spirit of sincere humility. In his own words, 'never was I so pious as when composing the Creation. I knelt down every day and prayed God to strengthen me for my task.'
