Cello Concerto No. 2 in D Major

Composer: HAYDN, Joseph
  • Haydn composed his Cello Concerto no. 2 in D Major (Hob. VIIb:2) in 1783.1
  • For many years this concerto was attributed to Anton [Antonín] Kraft, the principal cellist of the Esterházy orchestra. These rumors were put to rest in in 1953 when Haydn’s autograph manuscript was rediscovered. It is likely that Haydn composed the concerto for Kraft.2
    • Anton Kraft was also the cellist for whom Beethoven wrote the cello part of hisTriple Concerto Op.56.3
  • This concerto is sometimes called Haydn’s “Great” D Major Cello Concerto, to distinguish it from the “Little” Cello Concerto in D Major Hob.VIIb:4.4
    • However, the “Little” D Major Concerto is considered spurious by many scholars.5

Sources

  1. Georg Feder and James Webster, “Haydn, (Franz) Joseph,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed October 22, 2019, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000044593.
  2. Gerhard Anders, trans. Keith Anderson, liner notes to Haydn: Cello Concertos Nos. 1, 2 and 4, Maria Kliegel, Cologne Chamber Orchestra, Helmut Müller-Brühl, Naxos 8.555041, CD, 2001.
  3. Ibid.
  4. Anders, trans. Anderson, liner notes to Haydn: Cello Concertos Nos. 1, 2 and 4.
  5. Feder and Webster, “Haydn, (Franz) Joseph,” Grove Music Online.

Cut IDs

14543, 48678