Cello Concerto No. 2 (Haydn)

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Joseph Haydn's Concerto No. 2 in D Major for cello and orchestra was composed in 1783. Haydn, as with his first cello concerto, composed the piece for a cellist, this time for Antonín Kraft, a cellist of Prince Nikolaus's Esterházy Orchestra. Though the piece's authenticity was doubted for some time, most experts believe that the work is indeed authentic after Haydn's signature was discovered on the manuscript in 1951.

The second concerto is more relaxed and lyrical than Haydn's first cello concerto, which is in C Major. In the first movement of the D Major concerto, the tone is leisurely and soothing. However, the piece soon enters the development 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 "Adagio", 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 one of the concerto. It is in Rondo form, featuring an episode in the dominant key of A major and a more somber digression in d minor, the parallel minor. The work ends with a rather cheerful affirmation, less overtly virtuostic than its sister C Major Cello Concerto.