Cello Concerto in D major, Hob.VIIb:2

Unlike the Concerto in C, which came to light only in 1961, Haydn’s Concerto in D has always been a mainstay of the cello repertoire. A long-held theory that it was not by Haydn but by Anton Kraft, cellist in Haydn’s orchestra at Esterházy from 1778 to 1790, did nothing to reduce its popularity and, anyway, those particular suspicions were finally disposed of when the authentic Haydn manuscript was rediscovered in 1953. It is more than likely, however, that Kraft collaborated closely with the composer on the work and it could be that he devised much of the cello part himself. In comparison with the Concerto in C, which was written for another Esterháza cellist twenty years earlier, it is extraordinarily abundant in double and even triple stops, high thumb-positions and bravura passage-work, the details of which the composer might well have allowed his expert soloist to fill in for himself.

Highly intricate though the cello part is, and although the melodic line is often embellished with decorative figuration in the orchestral string parts too, the thematic basis of the construction is quite simple. The gracious main theme of the Allegro moderato, presented in the opening bars by first and second violins, includes an apparently innocent little figure – three notes in dotted rhythm – that is to echo through much of the work. The second subject introduced by oboes and violins a little later starts with three notes in the same rhythm. When the solo cello re-introduces and develops the main themes, however extravagant and however extended the virtuoso elaboration it applies to them, it makes sure that the basic thematic motif retains its prominence. Oboes and horns confirm its importance in the closing bars.

The elegant cello melody at the beginning of the Adagio clearly derives from the three-note figure heard at the end of the Allegro moderato, just as the short middle section echoes the second subject of that movement. The eloquent recall of the opening melody, high on the cello A-string, is dramatically interrupted by an orchestral intervention in A minor and it takes more harmonic diversions and a short cadenza to restore equanimity.

The final rondo is based on a theme which, not surprisingly by now, incorporates an allusion to the basic three-note motif in dotted rhythm. It too is deflected by an orchestral episode in the minor, which gives the cello an opportunity to make a reply in impressively double-stopped octaves as it turns the movement back onto course towards its cheerfully emphatic D major ending.