He astounded the musical world with his _Creation_, in which he displayed a fertility of imagination and a magnificence of orchestral richness that the oratorio had never known before.

Emboldened by his success he wrote the _Seasons_, a colossal work, the most varied and the most picturesque in the history of ancient or modern music.

In this instance the oratorio is no longer entirely religious.

It gives an audacious picture of nature with realistic touches which are astonishing even now.

There is an artistic imitation of the different sounds in nature, as the rustling of the leaves, the songs of the birds in the woods and on the farm, and the shrill notes of the insects.