Joseph Haydn’s The Seasons is one of the most important oratorios in the history of music. It is not only a perfect summary of the composer’s work, but also a reflection of his thoughts, worldview and values. Moreover, this piece inspired Artistic Director of the festival Giovanni Antonini to take up the theme of nature. During the concert, Antonini will lead Il Giardino Armonico.

Undoubtedly, two oratorios are of greatest importance in Haydn's vocal work: The Creation from 1798 and The Seasons, written about three years later. He composed them under the patronage of Baron Gottfried van Swieten – an Austrian patron of the arts, who also significantly influenced the later musical career of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto by van Swieten was based on excerpts from the English poem The Seasons by the poet and playwright James Thomson, published in the first half of the 18th century. Although there was some altercation between the two men, the effect of their cooperation is simply dazzling. The baron not only undertook work on the text, but also regularly drew Haydn’s attention to the close relationship between words and music, as evidenced by numerous annotations in the libretto manuscript.

Haydn appears here as an eminent composer able to masterfully score musical ideas, presenting the audience with perfectly captured musical interpretations of the spring, summer, autumn and winter. Haydn’s ability to paint with sounds, resulting from his hard work, perfectly depicts the mood of each season. It is not a collection of a few trivial scenes, but a well-thought-out formal structure. At the time of creating the oratorio, the artist was at the peak of his creative abilities. Soon after, due to his deteriorating health, he stopped composing altogether. He died in May 1809, and the oratorio was his last work.