Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( ; ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...

's Cello Concerto No. 2 in

D Major D major is a major scale based on D (musical note), D, consisting of the pitches D, E (musical note), E, F♯ (musical note), F, G (musical note), G, A (musical note), A, B (musical note), B, and C♯ (musical note), C. Its key signature has two S ...

Hob. The Hoboken catalogue is a catalogue of the musical compositions by Joseph Haydn compiled by Anthony van Hoboken. It is intended to cover the composer's entire oeuvre and includes over 750 entries. Its full title in the original German is ''Joseph ...

VIIb/2, Op. 101, was for many years thought to have been composed in 1783 for

Antonín Kraft Antonín Kraft Antonín Kraft (30 December 1749, Rokycany – 28 August 1820, Vienna) was a Czech cellist and composer. He was a close friend of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. He worked in the Holy Roman Empire and later in the Austrian Empire. B ...

, a cellist of Prince Nikolaus's

Esterházy The House of Esterházy, also spelled Eszterházy (), is a Hungarian nobility, Hungarian noble family with origins in the Middle Ages. From the 17th century, the Esterházys were the greatest landowner magnates of the Kingdom of Hungary, durin ...

Orchestra. New research, published in 2019 by Thomas Tolley and building on discoveries of Simon McVeigh, shows it was neither written for nor debuted by Kraft, an assertion that had been made by Kraft's son to musicologist Gustav Schilling, and later repeated in Schilling's influential musical encyclopedias. However, original advertisements in the London press announced that ‘A new Concerto, Violoncello, Mr Cervetto, composed by Haydn’ had its premier on March 24, 1784 at Hannover Square. A second performance was advertised a week later as being a ‘Concerto Violoncello, Mr Cervetto, composed by Haydn’. The C major concerto, Haydn's only other

cello concerto A cello concerto (sometimes called a violoncello concerto) is a concerto for solo cello with orchestra or, very occasionally, smaller groups of instruments. These pieces have been written since the Baroque era if not earlier. However, unlike instru ...

, was, at this point, more than twenty years old. The soloist of the premiere,

James Cervetto James Cervetto (8 January 1748 – 5 February 1837) was an English cellist, playing in aristocratic venues and in important concerts of the day. He was the soloist for the premiere of Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 2 (Haydn), second cello concerto. ...

(son of noted cellist Jacob Cervetto), was the principal cellist of the Italian Opera in London and one of England’s leading solo cellists. It is regarded as one of the greatest works for cello of the

classical era Classical antiquity, also known as the classical era, classical period, classical age, or simply antiquity, is the period of cultural European history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD comprising the interwoven civilization ...

. The piece's authenticity was doubted for some time, and at one stage it was suggested that Kraft himself had written it,Donald Tovey, Essays in Musical Analysis, Concertos but most experts now believe that the work is indeed authentic after Haydn's autograph score was discovered in 1951.

Music

The concerto is structured in the usual three

movements Movement may refer to: Generic uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Movement (sign language), a hand movement when signing * Motion, commonly referred to as movement * Movement (music), a division of a larger c ...

: #

Allegro Allegro may refer to: Common meanings * Allegro (music), a tempo marking that indicates to playing quickly and brightly (from Italian meaning ''cheerful'') * Allegro (ballet), brisk and lively movement Artistic works * L'Allegro (1645), a poem b ...

moderato Moderato may refer to: * ''Moderato'', an Italian musical term; see Glossary of music terminology#M * Moderato Wisintainer (1902-1986), Brazilian footballer generally known as Moderato See also * '' Moderato Cantabile'', a 1958 novel by Mar ...

Adagio Adagio (Italian for 'slowly', ) may refer to: Music * Adagio, a tempo marking, indicating that music is to be played slowly, or a composition intended to be played in this manner * Adagio (band), a French progressive metal band Albums * ''Adag ...

Rondo The rondo or rondeau is a musical form that contains a principal theme (music), theme (sometimes called the "refrain") which alternates with one or more contrasting themes (generally called "episodes", but also referred to as "digressions" or "c ...

(Allegro) In the first movement of the D Major Concerto, the tone is leisurely and soothing. However, the piece soon enters the

development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development (music), the process by which thematic material is reshaped * Photographic development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting * Development hell, when a proje ...

phase, where another theme, building upon the opening theme, is discovered. Finally, the recapitulation returns to the main theme. In the second movement, the key shifts to the dominant, A major. The tempo marking is "

", slower than many of Haydn's slow movements which are marked " Andante". In the middle of the second movement, there is an episode in the rather distant key C major. The final movement is the shortest movement of the concerto. It is in

rondo form The rondo or rondeau is a musical form that contains a principal theme (sometimes called the "refrain") which alternates with one or more contrasting themes (generally called "episodes", but also referred to as "digressions" or "couplets"). Some ...

, featuring an episode in the dominant key of A major and a more somber digression in D minor. The work ends with a rather cheerful affirmation, less overtly virtuosic than Haydn's First Cello Concerto.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Haydn, Cello Concerto No. 2 Concertos by Joseph Haydn 1783 compositions Compositions in D major