Be Our Guest

Dr. Eric Stark is the Artistic Director for the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir and a professor at Butler University's School of Music. As our guest blogger, he provides some additional commentary about this weekend's performance of Haydn's Creation.

Haydn's Creation is a favorite in the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir repertoire because the choral writing is both radiant and descriptive. We get some of the greatest moments in the whole piece! The announcement of "and there was LIGHT" has to rate up at the top of any list of favorite concert hall moments for its shockingly arresting proclamation.

Writing this in the very first years of the 19th century, Haydn was so far ahead of the game. He gives us a tone poem to open the work, "The Representation of Chaos," that is positively cosmic in its harmonic and textural vocabulary. Generations before anyone was talking about the "Big Bang" theory, Haydn conceived of it, in his own terms of course, and set it to music!

Rehearsing this work for us in the Choir is a joy. It's work to be sure...all those fugal passages to attend to, the tonal colors to be brought out, etc. etc. But what delight there is in the process. Like all great composers, Haydn's music teaches us how to sing...with appropriate movement, lightness and a sense of dance. As I've said to the singers many times in our rehearsals, if we're not all feeling the impulse (at least) to move, then we must be doing something wrong.

The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir present Haydn's Creation this weekend. Click here for tickets.