Spurred on by the tremendos success of the “Creation”, van Swieten, who had written the libretto and comissioned the work, prompted Haydn to compose a further large-scale oratorio. At first, the composer was not very enthusiastic about the libretto, which described the seasons and the worries and joys of peasant life. Following its premiere Haydn spoke of his work with great pride. – During its genesis, he had made changes and new versions of different parts several times. Our study edition which follows the scholarly musical text in the Haydn Complete Edition (published in 2007) also contains the most important early versions and sketches in an appendix.