This chapter discusses Haydn’s employment history with the Esterházy family and its important role in his musical development and in the establishment of his fame, his introduction to Handel oratorios during travels to London, his relationships with Johann Peter Salomon and Gottfried van Swieten, factors regarding the history and development of the libretto of The Creation, and circumstances surrounding the composition and premiere of the oratorio. Musical topics focus on Haydn’s particular manner of text expression as well as organization of musical material in terms of structure. Performance practice topics include discussion of the oratorio’s editions, performance language in German or English, scoring, meter and tempo, metric accentuation, recitative, and ornamentation.