Haydn’s oratorio "The Seasons" embraces the joy of human life and the best that each season offers — rich with evocations of the natural world, festive wine parties, hunting expeditions, and peasant dances, as well as imitations of nature, including thunderstorms and croaking frogs. Legend has it that Beethoven was in attendance at the premiere, and the young composer was so overcome by its power that he knelt in homage to Haydn.