 The sources for the libretto are the two Creation narratives from the Book of Genesis, some Psalms, and John Milton's "Paradise Lost", an epic poem in ten volumes, first published in 1667.The libretto is structured in three parts, the first dealing with the Creation of the universe and the plants, the second with the Creation of the animals, and of man and woman, and the third with Adam and Eve in Paradise, showing an idealized love in harmony with the "new world".Haydn had composed symphonies, operas, string quartets and more chamber music for the court at Eszterháza.