THE STORY BEHIND: Haydn's Cello Concerto No.1

On January 19 & 20, conductor Ruth Reinhardt and the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra will present ROMEO & JULIET with cellist Zlatomir Fung.

Title: Cello Concerto No.1, Hob.VIIb, C major
Composer: Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Last time performed by the Rhode Island Philharmonic: Last performed October 13, 2012 with Grant Llewellyn conducting and soloist Wendy Warner. In addition to a solo cello, this piece is scored for two oboes, two horns and strings.

The Story: “Here is the major discovery of our age, and surely one of the finest works of this period,” declares Haydn scholar H.C. Robbins Landon about the C Major Cello Concerto. This work was discovered in 1961 in a private collection in Czechoslovakia that had miraculously survived World War II and its aftermath. Scholars easily confirmed its authenticity through a thematic entry in Haydn’s catalog of 1765, and members of the Haydn Institute in Cologne pronounced it to be one of the most notable works from the youthful period of Joseph Haydn. Since its publication in 1963, the C Major Concerto has been recorded over a dozen times and performed by such great artists as Mstislav Rostropovich.
       
The Moderato first movement is a grand, sweeping affair showing Haydn’s ties to the period of Bach and Handel. Although the composer does not veer far from the home key, the range and speed of many of the soloist’s passages reveal clear virtuosic intent. Toward the end of the movement, an unaccompanied cello passage (a “cadenza”) gives the soloist a special chance to shine.
       
The cellist that Haydn very likely had in mind was Joseph Weigl, first chair player in the Esterházy orchestra. He was noted for his matchless technique in quick movements and his warm, beautiful tone in an Adagio. During this concerto’s slow movement, Weigl would have had ample opportunity to demonstrate both tone and agility. There are even solo passages containing two simultaneous melodies and, again, a cadenza appears just before the movement wraps up.
       
Oddly, there is no designated cadenza in the final movement, but once the soloist enters, the solo part is nearly constant. Robbins Landon even calls the movement “a tour-de-force of epic proportions, with passages lying very high indeed and difficult even for the greatest soloists of today.” The sheer brilliance of the movement makes it a worthy culmination of not only this concerto but perhaps all of Haydn’s early concertos.

Program Notes by Dr. Michael Fink © 2023 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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