2nd cello concerto (Haydn)
Joseph Haydn's Cello Concerto No. 2 in D major ( Hob. VIIb: 2) for cello and orchestra was composed in 1783 and is one of the few from the time of the mature “Viennese Classic”. Furthermore, these are only the D major piano concerto (1782), the famous concerto for the valve trumpet (1796) and the “Concertante” written in London in 1792 for four solo instruments. His other traditional solo concerts - including the Cello Concerto in C major (Hob. VIIb: 1) - belong to his early days, primarily the 1760s. Haydn's concerts are usually occasional works for musician friends.
classification
Haydn composed the concerto for the cellist Antonín Kraft , who was cellist in the Esterhazy chapel from 1778 to 1790 . Around 1800 he and his son Nicolaus shared the reputation of being the best cellist in Vienna . For a long time the work was not considered authentic until the manuscript with Haydn's handwriting was found in 1951. In 1837 it was incorrectly listed in Schilling's encyclopedia as a composition by Anton Krafft. "With the assumption that the work was not composed" by ", but" for "Krafft, the incorrect attribution can perhaps be explained" (Gerlach).
The approximately 24-minute concerto in D major is more cantabulous and lyrical than the previous first cello concerto in C major. Haydn had met Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1781 , befriended and exchanged ideas with him, and eagerly played a quartet with him. While Mozart adopted the thematic work that Haydn had developed in the Russian Quartets op. 33 (1781) into his further work, Haydn learned from him a. a. the “Singing Allegro” - the cantable melody in the fast movements. All movements of this cello concerto are characterized by a soft, supple melody.
structure
The work consists of three movements:
- Allegro moderato (D major)
- Adagio (A major)
- Rondo; Allegro (D major)
To the music
The first movement (Allegro moderato, D major, 4/4) is 14 minutes longer than the other two combined. It is based on the sonata form. The exposition takes up almost half of the movement with about 6 minutes and presents the two themes in a very classic way, together with an epilogue, first in tutti , then in solo part. The first theme is basically laid out in four bars, but closes with a twinkle in the third, so that Haydn repeats the last two bars in various ways in order to reach the root at the end, making the theme six bars. The second theme comprises four bars with a caesura (lead with pause) in the middle. In its soft, supple ductus it resembles the main theme. Due to figurations and tutti interjections, the solo part is doubled compared to the tutti part; instead of the epilogue motif, the end of the secondary theme is split off and already subjected to a processing process before the tutti ritornell-like closes the exposition with the main theme, split-off and epilogue motif. The development begins as a soloist with the 1st theme and the split-off of the 2nd theme, followed by a modulatory part with a fifth case sequence and two episodic minor motifs. Once again in the function of a ritornello, the tutti concludes the development with a new sequence of fifths and the epilogue motif. The recapitulation begins again as a soloist with the first and second theme and figurations. Instead of the epilogue or a tutti ritornello, the coda begins with a dialogue between tutti and solo, whereby the head motif of the main theme sounds like an acclamation three times and each time increased by one note above an organ point and the soloist figures in between. The tutti introduces the end with the epilogue motif, is interrupted by the cadenza and then resumed. Then the head motif of the main theme closes the sentence (like the exposition before) in a meaningful and effective way.
Unusually, the second movement is a five-minute rondo (Adagio, A major, 2/4). A three-part song set or a form of variation would be expected. The chorus is first presented very gently by the soloist (piano, no wind instruments, no double bass) and with parallel lower theses in the violins, in order then to emphasize the theme in the tutti repetition. It is a classic eight-bar period that sets a clear turning point after four bars with a lead and half-close. The first couplet is dedicated to the soloist, who can sing a partially figured cantilena to dabbed piano accompaniment of the strings (without wind instruments). This decency is maintained in the following chorus. Instead of a tutti repetition of the refrain, the 2nd couplet begins with a chordal orchestral gesture (forte, A minor) to lead to the following C major, in which the 2nd couplet is, but the character of the 1st. Couplet corresponds. The final refrain also dispenses with the tutti repetition, so it remains just as delicate as the refrain in the middle. After the cadenza, the tutti takes over the short three-bar coda, but everything is in the piano.
The final movement is the shortest (Allegro, D major, 6/8). It is a happy rondo with sweeping character that ends with a jubilant ending. The refrain theme is the ideal form of the classical period with its division into two half-clauses and two-measure phrases. The first phrase is the core from which the whole theme is developed through variation. This technique, which began with Haydn, was later greatly increased by Ludwig van Beethoven and Johannes Brahms . As in the second movement, the refrain is introduced discreetly in the solo without wind instruments and double bass in the light string movement with parallel violins in the lower tertz and then repeated by the tutti. The short 1st couplet begins in high register with a new motif and ends in rapid triad figures. The slightly varied chorus (again solo / tutti) delimits a long second couplet, which is peppered with difficulties: quick triad breaks in high register, double stops, big jumps. For the sensitive ears, the third refrain in the solo is again slightly varied, while the repetition in the tutti surprisingly changes the character through forte and minor to energetic and dramatic. It is not uncommon for a couplet to be in a minor key (like the third here now), but anticipation in the tutti is one of those surprise effects for which Haydn is known. The 3rd couplet increases the difficulties and a. thanks to quick double-octave stops that no handful of cellists could play at the time. Cleverly, Haydn also uses two refrain quotes, the first even in parallel thirds. With the last refrain, which corresponds to the second, major is restored. The coda initially offers an effective dialogue between the winds (chorus theme) and the soloist (rapid triad breaks), and then it takes it to the extreme with fortissimo cheers.
occupation
Violoncello solo, 2 oboes , 2 horns , strings (whereby the soloist part is not notated individually, but is integrated into the string composition, so that the soloist also plays the tutti passages when he is not required as a soloist.)
literature
- Brigitte Esser (Red.): Harenberg, cultural guide concert. 7th, completely revised edition. Meyers Lexikonverlag, Mannheim 2006, ISBN 3-411-76161-X .
- Sonja Gerlach: Foreword to the pocket score, Henle Verlag Munich, 1981, ISMN M-2018-5202-7
