🌟 FEATURING:
John Grecia, Conductor; Melanie Sarakatsannis, soprano; David Price, tenor; and Mark Hightower, bass
📅 WHEN:
Saturday, April 18 & Sunday, April 19 | 7:30PM
🎼 FREE EVENT
Seating is limited • Early arrival is recommended
📍 WHERE:
The Sanctuary | Wayne Presbyterian Church
For the first time in its 78-year history, the Wayne Oratorio Society presents Franz Joseph Haydn's "The Seasons" on Saturday, April 18th and Sunday, April 19th.
"The Seasons" (1801) stands as a grand sequel to his earlier masterpiece, "The Creation" (1798), forming a two-part artistic vision that contrasts divine origin with earthly existence.
While "The Creation" celebrates the origins of life and the majesty of the natural world, "The Seasons" shifts focus to human experience - examining nature’s cycles, agricultural labor, and the joys and hardships of life across the year. With a libretto by Gottfried van Swieten, drawn from Scottish poet James Thomson’s 18th-century poems, the oratorio blends sacred tradition with vivid pastoral storytelling, offering a musical tapestry rich in color, character, and much charm.
Haydn’s score is a feast of musical imagery and theatrical invention. A sunrise reminiscent of "The Creation" opens the Summer section with radiant orchestration, while croaking frogs, chirping birds, and rustling breezes animate the natural world. The oratorio features a thrilling thunderstorm, a jubilant wine harvest complete with dancing peasants and a delightfully “tipsy” fugue, and a rousing hunting chorus punctuated by traditional horn calls. Three vocal soloists - Simon (bass), Lucas (tenor), and Hanne (soprano) - serve as narrators, guiding listeners through the joys, labors, and reflections of agrarian life.
"The Seasons" stands as a life-affirming celebration of nature’s rhythms and humanity’s enduring place within them - a rich and joyful musical journey through the turning year.